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TNITK!)   STATICS 

H(/dJn#t 
THOMAS  ,),   l;K.M)V   AND  OTHKIJS. 


OPKXINC    ADDHKSS 


Q  i:   IM,  i  ss. 


\\'ASIII\(; TON.  I).  ('.,  DiicjiMni:!;  II.  !•">.  is.  AND  li»?  issi>. 


GIFT  OF 


ST\AJR    ROUTE 

UNITED  STATES 

against 
THOMAS  J.  BEADY  AND  OTHERS. 


OPENING  ADDEESS 

OF 

GEORGE    BLISS. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  DECEMBER  14, 15, 18,  AND  19,  1882. 


las 


\1 


OPENING  ADDRESS  OF  GEORGE  BLISS. 


MAY  IT  PLEASE  THE  COURT,  AND  YOU,  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  JURY  : 

It  has  been  assigned  to  me  to  state  to  you  the  grounds  upon  which  the 
Government  will  ask  that  you  pass  your  judgment  upon  the  action  of 
the  defendants  in  this  case,  and  to  call  your  attention  in  some  detail 
to  the  evidence  which  we  shall  present  to  you  to  sustain  the  charge 
which  we  make  against  them.  That  charge,  gentlemen,  is.  what  is 
.known  as  conspiracy,  and  it  is  founded  upon  a  statute  of  the  United 
States  which  is  substantially  this :  There  was  an  amendment  of  the 
statute  in  1879.  A  portion  of  this  charge  relates  to  a  period  prior  to 
1879,  and  a  portion  to  a  period  after  1879 ;  so  far  as  the  operative  portion 
of  the  statute  is  concerned  it  remains  unchanged.  It  was  the  same  in 
both  periods.  The  statute  is  this : 

If  two  or  more  persons  conspire  either  to  commit  any  offense  against  the  United 
States,  or  to  dffrand  the  United  States  in  any  manner,  or  for  any  purpose,  and  one  or 
more  of  such  parties  do  any  act  to  effect  the  object  of  the  conspiracy,  all  of  the 
parties  to  such  conspiracy  shall  be  liable — 

to  a  penalty  specified.  That  is  the  amendment  to  section  5440  of  the 
Revised  Statutes  of  the  United  States,  passed  on  the  17th  of  May,  1879. 
It  provides,  you  will  see,  gentlemen,  that  if  any  two  or  more  persons 
conspire  to  defraud  the  United  States  in  any  manner  whatever  or  for 
any  purpose  whatever,  and  if  any  one  of  them  does  any  acf,  all  of  them 
are  guilty  under  the  statute.  We  expect  to  show  you  that  these  par- 
ties did  conspire  to  defraud  the  United  States  out  of  large  sums  of  money 
in  connection  with  the  postal  service  of  the  United  States,  and  that  one 
or  more  of  them  did  various  acts  in  pursuance  of  the  conspiracy,  arid 
that  they  are  all  guilty  under  the  statute.  And  we  shall  with  consider- 
able confidence  ask  a  verdict  of  guilty  at  your  hands  after  the  evidence 
on  both  sides  shall  have  been  closed. 

These  defendants,  gentlemen,  are  persons  who  have  some  of  them 
heretofore  occupied  prominence  in  the  community.  One  of  them  is  an 
ex-United  States  Senator  from  the  State  of  Arkansas.  Another  one  of 
them  was  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster  General,  who,  by  virtue  of  his 
office,  had  charge  of  the  whole  business  of  making  the  contracts  for  the 
mail  service  and  regulating  the  rate  of  pay  which  could  be  allowed  for 
carrying  the  mails.  Another  one  of  them  is  the  brother  of  the  ex-United 
States  Senator  of  whom  I  have  spoken.  Another  is  the  brother,  in  law. 
The  brother-in-law  is  not  before  you  practically,  because  he  is  dead, 
though  I  think  there  is  no  formal  evidence  upon  that  point.  Another  one 
is  the  friend  and,  to  some  extent,  the  business  associate  of  the  ex-United 
States  Senator.  The  last  one  was  his  clerk  and  confidential  employe. 
That  is  the  relation  which  those  gentlemen  bear  to  this  case  ;  and  I  may 
say  here  at  the  outset  that  the  theory  of  the  Government  is  that  the 
conspiracy  to  defraud  the  United  States,  the  method  of  defrauding  the 
United  States, and  the  original  idea  had  its  birth  in  the  mind  of  the  ex- 
Senator,  Stephen  W.  Dorsey,  and  that  the  first  steps  towards  itsexecu- 

370840 


4 

tion  were  taken  fry  him;  that  it  was  impossible  to  carry  out  the  con- 
spiracy unless  he  got  orders  for  the  payment  of  money  from  the  Treas- 
ury of  the  United  States,  which  orders  had  to  be  for  an  extravagant 
and  improper  amount  in  order  to  make  the  conspiracy  profitable,  and 
that  he  obtained  those  orders  from  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster- 
General,  and  by  corrupt  means.  The  other  parties  were  the  pawns  in 
the  game.  It  was  necessary  to  have  bidders  to  get  the  contracts  in 
form.  .As  Stephen  W.  Dorsey  was  then  a  Senator,  he  was  forbidden  by 
the  statute  of  the  United  States  to  take  a  contract  in  his  own  name. 
It  was  necessary,  therefore,  to  bring  here  to  Washington  the  brother, 
who  was  a  humble  mechanic  in  Vermont;  and  the  friend,  who  was  en- 
gaged in  some  business  in  Ohio.  It  was  necessary  to  use  the  name  of 
the  brother-in-law,  who  was  lying  sick  with  a  disease  which  brought 
him  to  his  grave,  who  was  utterly  unfit  to  attend  to  business,  and  who 
rarely,  if  ever,  attended  to  anything  in  this  matter  except  to  sign  his 
name  to  papers,  many  of  them  in  blank,  and  all  of  them  papers  in  the 
preparation  of  which  we  believe  he  took  no  active  part.  The  conspir- 
acy, therefore,  included  the  Senator,  his  representatives  and  dum-. 
mies,  and  it  included  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General,  whose 
co-operation  was  necessary  to  enable  the  conspiracy  to  become  success- 
ful financially.  I  said  that  the  Senator  was  forbidden  to  take  any  con- 
tracts in  his  own  name.  The  statute  upon  that  subject  is,  I  think,  sec- 
tion 3739,  and  is  as  follows  : 

Xo  member  of,  or  Delegate  in  Congress,  shall  directly  or  indirectly,  himself  or  by 
any  other  person  in  trust  for  him,  or  for  his  use  or  benefit,  or  on  his  account,  under- 
take, execute,  hold,  or  enjoy,  in  whole  or  in  part,  any  contract  or  agreement  made  or 
entered  into  in  behalf  of  the  United  States  by  any  officer  or  person  authorized  to  make 
contracts  011  behalf  of  the  United  States. 

The  belief  of  the  Government  is  that  we  shall  satisfy  you  that  the 
Senator  in  form  obeyed  this  statute,  and  that  lie  took  no  contracts  in 
his  own  name,  but  took  them  in  the  names  of  his  brother,  his  friend, 
and  his  brother-in-law.  We  shall  show  you  that  lie  was  interested  in 
the  contracts  all  the  time.  The  contracts  commenced  on  the  1st  of 
July,  1878.  On  the  4th  of  March,  1879,  he  ceased  to  be  a  Senator  and 
became  ex-Senator,  and  within  a  brief  ten  or  fifteen  days  after  that  time 
he  became  avowedly  and  admittedly  interested  in  these  contracts,  which 
we  say  were  obtained  for  his  benefit  long  prior  to  that  time  and  in  vio- 
lation of  the  statute.  We  say  that  the  conspiracy  started  at  the  very 
outset  with  a  direct  violation  of  another  statute  than  the  conspiracy 
statute  I  have  read  to  you,  to  wit,  the  statute  which  forbade  a  Senator 
of  the  United  States  to  have  any  interest  in  any  contract,  or  to  have 
any  person  hold  an  interest  in  his  behalf  or  for  him.  This  Senator,  as 
we  say,  having  conceived  a  scheme,  and  having  brought  his  friends  into 
it,  went  on  and  aided  it  in  every  way  in  his  power,  concealing  his  interest. 
He  vised  his  position  as  United  States  Senator  to  write  letters  on  official 
paper  recommending  the  things  necessary  for  the  perfection  of  the  con- 
spiracy and  its  successful  carrying  out.  He  did  all  that  until  he  ceased 
to  be  Senator,  and  then  he  became  more  openly  participant  in  it. 

Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  this  indictment  is  confined  to  some  nineteen 
contracts  upon  nineteen  separate  mail  routes  which  were  awarded  at 
what  is  known  as  the  letting  of  February,  1878,  to  take  effect  on  the  1st 
of  July,  1878,  and  to  be  for  four  years.  Those  contracts  were  let  after 
public  advertisement,  and  were  subject  to  competition  with  other  bidders. 
They  aggregated  in  amount  $41,135  a  year.  The  contractors  were  to 
perform  the  mail  service  called  for  under  those  contracts  for  that  sum. 
Under  the  fostering  orders  of  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General, 


Thomas  J.  Brady,  the  contracts  within  about  two  years  after  they  were 
obtained  were  so  transformed  that  they  required  that  there  should  be 
paid  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  for  the  performance  of  the 
service  under  them  $-448,670.90.  Contracts  starting  at  $41,135  were  ill 
two  years  run  up  to  $448,670.  You  will  bear  in  mind  that  these  were  an- 
nual sums,  and  the  contracts  had  an  average  of  about  three  years  to  run 
at  these  increased  rates.  So  the  result  of  the  whole  thing  was,  bringing  it 
down  to  very  close  figures,  that  the  orders  Mr.  Brady  made  in  behalf  of 
these  gentlemen  on  these  nineteen  routes  alone  were  to  cost  the  Govern- 
ment during  the  period  the  contracts  ran  between  nine  hundred  thousand 
and  a  million  dollars  in  excess  of  the  original  sum.  That  shows  you,  in 
this  case,  gentlemen,  confining  ourselves,  for  the  moment,  simply  to  the 
routes  named  in  this  indictment,  that  there  was  paid  from  the  Treasury, 
under  the  improvident  and  corrupt  orders  of  Mr.  Brady  unnecessarily 
and  improperly  made,  close  on  to  a  million  of  dollars.  When  I  say  that 
I  speak  only  of  the  nineteen  contracts  in  this  indictment.  This  combina- 
tion had  a  hundred  and  thirty  four  contracts  in  all,  and  upon  them  there 
were  other  large  sums  of  money  taken  from  the  Treasury  of  the  United 
States.  The  order  of  Mr.  Brady  that  a  contract  should  be  increased 
was  an  absolute  open  sesame  to  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States,  and 
took  from  the  Treasury  the  money  that  he  said  should  be  taken  from 
it  without  the  powrer  in  any  officer  of  the  Government  to  say  nay.  If 
there  was  Mr.  Brady's  order  that  it  should  be  paid  out,  that  order  was 
sufficient  and  it  was  paid. 

I  have  said  these  gentlemen  were  concerned  in  a  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  routes.  There  were  other  allowances  made  about  the  same  time. 
There  was  a  carnival  of  corruption  in  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster- 
General's  office,  as  the  result  of  which  the  Government  are  prepared  to 
show  you  that  the  United  States  was  defrauded  of  close  on  to  $5,000,000. 

Gentlemen,  that  is  a  general  outline  of  this  case,  and  will  give  you 
some  idea  of  its  importance  and  the  reason  why  those  of  us  who  are, 
concerned  in  it,  whose  duty  it  is  to  present  to  you  the  Government's 
views  and  the  Government's  evidence,  feel  at  once  the  weight  of  the 
reponsibility  under  which  we  are  laboring,  and  feel  also  the  importance 
of  your  giving  to  this  case  your  most  careful  attention.  And  you 
should  bring  to  the  decision  of  the  case  not  only  your  careful  attention, 
but  your  honest,  unbiased  judgment. 

The  provisions  of  law  applicable  to  this  subject  I  will  call  to  your 
attention.  By  section  388  of  the  Kevised  Statutes  of  the  United  States, 
which  relates  to  the  organization  of  the  Post-Office  Department,  it  is  pro- 
vided that — 

There  shall  be  at  the  seat  of  Government  an  Executive  Department  to  be  kno\yn 
as  the  Post-Office  Department,  and  a  Postmaster-General,  who  shall  be  the  head  thereof, 
and  who  shall  be  appointed  by  the  President,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of. 
the  Senate. 

By  the  next  section  it  is  provided  that — 

There  shall  be  in  the  Post-Office  Department  three  assistant  postmasters-general, 
who  shall  be  appointed  by  the  President,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate,  and  who  may  be  removed  in  the  same  manner. 

Then  there  is  the  general  provision  of  the  Eevised  Statutes,  section 
161,  which  relates  to  all  the  executive  departments  of  the  Government : 

The  head  of  each  department  is  authorized  to  prescribe  regulations,  not  inconsistent 
with  law,  for  the"  government  of  his  department,  the  conduct  of  its  officers  and  clerks, 
the  distribution  and  performance  of  its  business,  and  the  custody,  use,  and  preserva- 
tion of  the  records,  papers,  and  property  appertaining  to  it. 


6 

Under  that  authority  to  the  Postmaster-General  there  have  been, 
from  time  to  time,  various  regulations  made  and  various  assignments 
and  distributions  of  duty,  the  language  of  the  statute  being — 

The  distribution  and  performance  of  its  business. 

Among  other  things  there  were  assigned  to  the  Second  Assistant 
Postmaster  -General  the  duties  which  1  will  read  to  you  that  you  may  see 
the  breadth  and  scope  of  them.  The  copy  of  the  regulations  from  which 
I  read  is  the  edition  of  July,  1879,  but  they  were  substantially  the 
same  regulations  which  prevailed  before  that  time.  These  contracts 
were  bid  for  in  the  fall  of  1877,  and  were  awarded  in  the  winter  of  1878, 
and  commenced  the  1st  of  July,  1878.  Of  course  the  regulations  prior 
to  1879,  as  well  as  those  of  1879,  may  come  into  play,  but  I  think  it  will 
be  found  that  in  no  point  where  they  differ  do  they  affect  this  case. 
Thomas  J.  Brady  became  Second  Assistant  Postmaster  General  on  the 
23d  of  July.  1870,  and  lie  continued  as  such  down  to  about  the  1st  of 
April,  188lJ  not  long  after  the  incoming  of  General  Garfield's  adminis- 
tration. 

The  regulations  of  the  Postmaster-General  as  to  the  distribution  of 
duties  to  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General  contain  the  follow- 
ing : 

THE    OFFICE    OF    THE   SECOND   ASSISTANT   POSTMASTER-GENERAL. 

To  this  office  is  assigned  the  business  of  arranging  the  mail  service  of  the  United 
States,  and  placing  the  same  under  contract,  embracing  all  correspondence  and  pro- 
ceedings respecting  the  frequency  of  trips,  mode  of  conveyance,  and  times  of  depart- 
ures and  arrivals  on  all  the  routes,  the  course;  of  the  mails  between  the  different  sec- 
tions of  the  country,  the  points  of  mail  distribution,  and  the  regulations  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  domestic  mail  service  of  the  United  States.  It  prepares  the  advertise- 
ments for  mail  proposals,  receives  the  bids,  and  has  charge  of  the  annual  and  miscel- 
laneous mail-lettiugs,  and  the  adjustment  and  execution  of  all  the  contracts.  All  appli- 
cations for  mail  service  or  change  of  mail  arrangements  and  for  mail  messengers 
should  be  sent  to  this  office.  All  claims  .should  be  submitted  to  it  for  transportation 
s'ervice.  From  this  office  all  postmasters  at  the  end  of  the  routes  receive  the  state- 
ment' of  mail  arrangements  prescribed  for  the  respective  routes.  It  reports  weekly  to 
the  auditor  all  contracts  executed  and  all  orders  affect  ing  the  accounts  for  mail  trans- 
portation; prepares  the  Statistical  exhibits  of  the  mail  service,  and  the  reports  to 
Congress  of  the  mail-lettings,  giving  a  statement  of  each  bid;  also  of  the  contracts 
made,  the  new  service  originated,  the  curtailments  ordered,  and  the  additional  allow- 
ances granted  during  the  year.  The  rates  of  pay  for  the  transportation  of  the  mails 
on  railroad  routes,  accordiugto  the  amount  and  character  of  the  service',  are  adjusted 
by  this  office.  It  also  directs  the  weighing  of  the  mails  on  the  same,  and  authori/es 
new  service  on  railroad  routes.  The  issuing  of  mail- locks  and  keys,  mail-pouches  and 
sacks,  and  the  supervision  of  the  construction  of  mail-bag  catchers  is  also  in  charge 
of  this  office.  To  it  is  attached  the  division  of  inspection,  to  which  is  assigned  the 
duty  of  receiving  and  inspecting  the  monthly  registers  of  arrivals  and  departures,  re- 
porting the  performance  of  mail  service;  also  special  reports  of  failures  or  delinquen- 
cies on  the  part  of  mail  contractors  or  their  agents,  and  of  noting  such  failures  and 
delinquencies,  and  preparing  cases  of  lines  or  deduct  ions  by  reason  thereof;  of  con- 
ducting the  correspondence  growing  out  of  reports  of  failures  or  delinquencies  in  the 
transportation  of  the  mails:  of  reporting  to  the  Auditor  of  the  Treasury  for  tin;  Post- 
Office  Department,  at  the  closeof  each  quarter,  by  certificate  of  inspection,  the  fact  of 
performance  or  non -performance  of  contract  or  recognized  mail  service,  noting  therein 
such  lines  or  deductions  as  may  have  been  ordered;  of  authorizing  the  payment  of  all 
employ6s  of  the  railway  mail  service  ;  also  the  payment  of  such  acting  employes  as 
may  be  employed  by  this  office  through  t;he  superintendent  of  railway  mail  service  in 
cases  of  emergency,  and  of  authorizing  the  auditor  to  credit  postmasters  with  sums 
paid  by  them  for  such  temporary  service  ;  and  such  other  duties  as  may  be  necessary 
to  secure  a  faithful  performance  of  the  mail  service.  All  complaiutsagainst  mail  con- 
tractors or  their  agents,  relating  to  failures  or  other  irregularities  in  the  transporta- 
tion of  the  mails,  whether  made  by  postmasters  or  others,  should  be  promptly  for- 
warded to  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General  marked  "  Division  of  Inspection." 

You  will  therefore  see,  gentlemen,  that  to  the  Second  Assistant  Post- 
master-General is  assigned  the  whole  power  over  the  transportation  of 


the  mails,  the  making  of  the  contracts  for  them,  the  decision  of  the 
question  whether  the  contractors  perform  their  service  properly  or  not, 
and  the  imposition  of  fines  upon  them  if  they  have  not  performed  them 
properly.  You  will  also  see  as  I  go  along,  that  by  general  language  the 
Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General  is  given  the  right  to  make  extra 
allowances  in  various  forms,  which  extra  allowances  are  practically  the 
source  of  the  fraud  upon  the  Government  of  which  we  complain  in  this 
case. 

Now,  gentlemen,  bearing  in  mind  these  provisions  that  I  have  read 
to  you,  the  condition  of  things  under  the  statute,  as  we  regard  it,  is 
this  :  It  is  the  duty  of  the  Postmaster- General  to  provide  for  the  carry- 
ing of  the  mail.  That  duty  is  imposed  in  general  terms  upon  the  Post- 
master-General, and  then,  under  the  special  power  given  by  the  statute 
which  I  have  read  to  you,  it  is  assigned  by  him  to  the  Second  Assistant 
Postmaster-General,  and  his  power  is  plenary.  The  statute  provides, 
however,  some  limitations  and  considerations  which  must  prevail  in 
connection  with  the  question  of  carrying  the  mail,  and  amongst  others 
is  this.  I  read  from  section  3965  of  the  Revised  Statutes: 

The  Postmaster-General  shall  provide  for  carrying  the  mail  on  all  post-routes  es- 
tablished by  law,  as  often  as  he,  having  due  regard  to  productiveness,  and  other  cir- 
cumstances, may  think  proper. 

The  discretionary  power  given  to  the  Postmaster- General  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General,  but  he  is  required 
to  have  u  regard  to  productiveness  and  other  circumstances."  Pro- 
ductiveness is  the  only  circumstance  specified  in  the  statute. 

The  Second  Assistant  Postmaster- General  having,  we  will  suppose, 
decided  that  the  mails  are  to  be  carried  on  a  certain  route  and  at 
a  certain  rate  of  speed,  and  a  certain  number  of  times  a  week,  what 
is  his  duty  and  what  is  the  scheme  of  the  law  as  to  how  that  plan  shall 
be  carried  out?  It  is  in  general  terms  this:  That  the  opportunity  for 
carrying  the  mail  shall  be  thrown  open  to  the  whole  world ;  that  there 
shall  be  public  advertisements  inviting  everybody  to  bid,  and  that  when 
they  do  bid  the  contracts  shall  be  awarded  to  the  lowest  bidder.  The 
whole  scheme  and  scope  of  the  law  is  that  as  to  all  post-office  contracts 
the  service  shall  be  thrown  open  to  public  competition,  and  contracts 
shall  be  awarded  to  the  lowest  bidder.  There  are  also  in  the  laws  cer- 
tain provisions,  which  I  shall  read  directly,  which  are  intended  to  pro- 
vide for  unforeseen  contingencies  which  cannot  be  covered  by  the  or- 
dinary advertisements.  It  was  by  a  perversion  of  these  that  Mr.  Brady 
and  Mr.  Dorsey  and  his  associates  succeeded  in  defrauding  the  United 
States.  Section  3941  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  as  it  then  stood,  pro- 
vided : 

The  Postmaster-General  shall  cause  advertisements  of  all  general  mail  lettings  of 
each  State  and  Territory  to  be  conspicuously  posted  in  each  post-office  in  the  State 
or  Territory  embraced  in  said  advertisement  for  at  least  sixty  days  before  the  time  of 
such  general  letting,  and  ;io  other  advertisement  of  such  letting  shall  be  required  ; 
but  this  provision  shall  not  apply  to  any  other  than  geueral  mail  Jottings. 

Then,  to  meet  the  contingency,  there  comes  section  3957,  which  pro- 
vides : 

Whenever,  by  reason  of  any  error,  omission,  or  other  cause,  any  route  which  should 
properly  be  advertised  for  the  regular  letting  is  omitted,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
Postmaster-General  to  advertise  the  same  as  soon  as  the  error  or  omission  shall  be 
discovered,  and  the  proposals  for  such  route  shall  be  opened  as  soon  as  possible  after 
the  other  proposals  in  the  same  contract  section  ;  and  the  contract  made  under  such 
supplementary  advertisement  shall  run,  as  nearly  as  possible,  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  of  the  regular  contract  term,  and  during  the  time  necessarily  lost  by  reason 
•of  such  error,  omission,  or  other  cause,  the  Postmaster-General  shall  provide  for  the 
carrying  of  the  mail  on  such  route  at  as  low  rate  as  possible  without  advertising. 


8 

You  will  see  that  this  section,  keeping  up  the  spirit  of  the  statute, 
provided  that  where  anything  has  been  accidentally  omitted  from  the 
advertisement  there  shall  be  a  supplemental  advertisement  throwing 
it  open  to  public  bidding,  and  that  the  Postmaster-General  is  author- 
ized to  provide  for  the  carrying  of  the  mail  on  that  omitted  route  only 
during  the  period  when  the  new  advertisement  is  running.  Referring 
to  a  phrase  which  appears  in  that  statute,  it  is  proper  for  me  to  say  to 
you.  gentlemen,  that  under  the  practice  of  the  Post-Office  Department 
the  whole  country  is  divided  into  contract  sections,  and  that  what  is 
known  as  the  Pacific  section,  which  covers  substantially  all  the  terri- 
tory west  of  the  Mississippi  River,  is  the  section  within  which  the  routes 
were  contained  in  connection  with  which  the  frauds  alleged  against 
these  defendants  were  perpetrated.  In  these  contract  sections  it  is  the 
practice  for  the  convenience  of  the  department  to  let  the  contracts  at 
different  times.  All  contracts  run  for  four  years,  but  they  let  the  con- 
tracts last  year  for  the  Pacific  section,  perhaps  next  year  for  the  New 
England  section,  and  so  on.  The  contracts  in  the  Pacific  section,  to 
which  these  frauds  relate,  were  let  to  take  effect  on  the  1st  of  July, 
1878,  and  those  contracts  expired  on  the  30th  of  June,  1882,  when  new 
contracts  were  made  for  the  Pacific  section.  By  section  3958  it  is  pro- 
vided : 

Whenever  it  becomes  necessary  to  change  the  terms  of  an  existing  contract  for  car- 
rying the  mail  otherwise  than  as  provided— 

in  two  other  sections  to  which  I  will  call  your  attention  directly — 

notice  thereof  shall  be  given  and  proceedings  had  thereon  the  same  as  at  the  letting 
of  the  original  contract. 

Then  by  section  3944  of  the  Revised  Statutes  it  is  provided  : 

Proposals  for  carrying  the  mail  shall  be  delivered,  sealed,  and  so  kept  until  the 
bidding  is  closed,  and  shall  then  be  opened  and  marked  in  the  presence  of  the  Post- 
master-General and  one  of  the  assistant  postmasters-general  or  two  of  the  assistant 
postmasters-general,  or  of  any  other  two  officers  of  the  department,  to  be  designated 
by  the  Postmaster-General. 

By  section  3948  of  the  Revised  Statutes  it  is  provided  that— 

The  Postmaster-General  shall  have  recorded  in  a  book  to  be  kept  for  that  purpose 
a  true  and  faithful  abstract  of  all  proposals  made  to  him  for  carrying  the  mail,  giving 
the  name  of  the  party  .offering,  the  terms  of  the  offer,  the  sum  to  be  paid,  and  the 
time  the  contract  is  to  continue;  and  he  .shall  put  on  tile  and  preserve,  the  originals 
of  all  such  proposals. 

Then  section  3950  provides  that—- 
No contract  for  carrying  the  mail  shall  be  made  with  any  person  who  has  entered, 
or  proposes  to  enter,  into  any  combination  to  prevent  the  making  of  any  bid  for  car- 
rying the  mail,  or  who  has  made  any  agreement,  or  given  or  performed',  or  promised 
to  give  or  perform,  any  consideration  whatever  to  induce  any  other  person  not  to  bid 
for  any  such  contract;  and  if  any  person  so  offending  is  a  contractor  for  carrying  the 
mail  his  contract  may  be  annulled. 

You  will  see  running  through  all  the  same  provision  for  public  ad- 
vertisement, free,  open  bidding,  and  the  imposition  of  penalties  for  any- 
thing which  prevents  free  and  public  bidding.  Then  comes  section 
3951  of  the  Revised  Statutes.  This  section  makes  provision  for  a  case 
where,  after  the  award  of  the  contract,  the  con  tractor  .does  not  take  the 
service  up.  It  provides  for  temporary  service  and  new* advertisement : 

Whenever  an  accepted  bidder  shay  fail  to  enter  into  contract,  or  a  contractor  on  a 
mail  route  shall  fail  or  refuse  to  perform  the  service  on  said  route  according  to  his 
contract,  or  when  a  new  route  shall  be  established,  or  new  service  required,  or  when 
from  any  other  cause  there  shall  not  be  a  contractor  legally  bound  or  required  to  per- 
form such  service,  the  Postmaster-General  may  make  a  temporary  contract  for  carry- 
ing the  mail  on  such  route,  without  advertising,  for  such  period  as  may  be  necessary, 
not  exceeding  six  mouths. 


Therefore,  if  new  service  is  required  because  of  the  refusal  of  the  con- 
tractor after  he  has  been  awarded  the  contract  to  enter  into  it,  or  if  he 
fails  to  perform  the  contract  after  he  has  entered  into  it,  there  is  the 
right  of  the  Postmaster- Gen  era!  to  see  that  the  mails  are  carried  by 
temporary  contract,  which,  however,  can  continue  only  six  months.  It 
is  worth  while  perhaps,  gentlemen,  to  show  you  how  thoroughly  the 
idea  of  public  advertisement  and  open  public  bidding  runs  through  all 
the  postal  laws,  and  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  when  you 
come  to  a  class  of  service  where  from  the  nature  of  the  case  there  can- 
not be  competition,  such  service  is  exceptedby  special  statute,  leaving 
the  remainder  as  it  was  before,  and  thus  emphasizing  the  scheme.  We 
all  know  that  in  railroad  service  there  is  ordinarily  no  opportunity  for 
competition,  because  there  is  ordinarily  only  one  railroad  between  given 
points.  Therefore  it  is  that  special  powers  are  given  to  the  Postmaster  ^ 
General  by  sections  3942,  3956,  and  3970,  with  reference  to  the  railway 
mail  service  and  steamboat  service  : 

The  Postmaster-Genera]  may  enter  into  contracts  for  carrying  the  mail  with  rail- 
road companies  without  advertising  for  bids  therefor. 

When  from  any  cause  it  may  become  necessary  to  make  a  new  contract  for  carry- 
ing the  mails  upon  any  water-route  between  ports  of  the  United  States  upon  which 
mail  service  has  been  previously  performed,  the  Postmaster-General  may  contract 
with  the  owner  or  master  of  any  steamer  for  carrying  the  said  mail  upon  said  route 
without  advertising. 

Those  are  the  provisions  which,  in  connection  with  another  provision 
as  to  steamboat  routes,  are,  I  think,  the  only  provisions  which  give  the 
Postmaster-General  power  to  make  contracts  for  carrying  the  mail  with- 
out advertising  and  open  public  competition.  You  will  excuse  me  if  I 
emphasize  the  fact  that  you  may  plainly  see  the  scheme  to  be  one  of  ad- 
vertisement, an  opportunity  for  free  and  open  public  bidding,  and  a  pro- 
vision for  the  different  contingencies  in  case  of  a  contractor  failing  to 
enter  into  contract,  or  to  carry  it  out,  for  temporary  service  extending 
simply  over  six  months,  and  in  this  way  making  provision  that  the  mail 
shall  be  carried,  come  what  may.  Now,  these  provisions,  your  own  judg- 
ment will  tell  you,  mean  precisely  what  the  Supreme  Court  has  said  in 
the  case  of  Garfielde  against  The  United  States,  in  3  Otto  : 

The  object  of  the  statute  was  to  secure  notice  of  the  intended  post  routes,  of  the 
service  required,  and  the  manner  of  its  performance,  that  bidders  might  compete, 
that  favoritism  should  be  prevented,  and  that  efficiency  and  economy  in  the  service 
should  be  obtained. 

We  think  you  will  be  satisfied  before  we  get  through  how  wise  the 
statute  was,  because  we  shall  show  you  overwhelmingly  that  when  fa- 
voritism is  allowed  to  come  in  efficiency  and  economy  cease  to  exist  in 
the  service. 

This  being  the  scope  of  the  law.  gentlemen,  what  were  the  duties  of 
the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General  with  reference  to  the  arrange- 
ment to  carry  the  mail "?  Very  obviously,  first,  to  ascertain  the  proba- 
ble necessities  of  the  service  during  the  four  years  for  which  he  was 
about  to  advertise.  He  had  abundant  means  of  ascertaining  chose  ne- 
cessities. He  knew,  in  the  first  place,  what  the  existing  service  was 
which  was  about  to  expire.  He  had  postmasters  at  every  town,  each 
one  of  whom  would  certainly  not  err  in  understanding  the  amount  of 
service  required.  Each  man  in  his  locality  would  certainly  see  that  the 
claim  of  the  locality  to  the  requisite  amount  of  service  was  brought  to 
the  notice  of  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General.  Beside  that 
the  Second  Assistant  Post  master- General  is  provided  with  a  corps, 
known  as  post-office  inspectors,  whose  business  it  is  to  go  to  the  regions 


10 

in  question  and  see  precisely  what  the  condition  of  the  locality  is,  what 
service  is  required,  how  it  is  performed,  and  everything  of  that  sort. 
They  are  his  eyes.  I  want  here  to  say  that  in  view  of  the  practice, 
which  seems  to  prevail  in  these  days,  of  assuming-  that  every  branch  of 
the  public  service  is  incompetent  and  corrupt,  that  I  do  not  believe 
there  is  any  private  corporation  or  any  private  citizen  who  lias  so  effi- 
cient a  corps  of  men  under  him  as  the  corps  of  post  office  inspectors 
in  the  Post-Office  Department  of  the  United  States,  taking  them  as 
they  have  been  certainly  within  the  last  two  years.  The  Second 
Assistant  Postmaster-General  has  these  means  of  finding  out  how 
much  service  should  be  advertised  for.  Having  ascertained  that, 
it  is  his  obvious  duty,  as  an  honest  public  officer,  to  advertise  for 
all  the  service  required,  so  as  to  submit  it  to  public  bidding.  If  he 
could  advertise  for  only  a  portion  of  the  service  and  then,  under  some 
of  those  laws  which  I  have  read  to  you,  or  under  others  to  which  I  will 
directly  call  your  attention,  could,  by  private  proceeding  behind  the 
door,  arrange  for  contracts  with  other  parties  without  competition,  of 
course  he  could  nullify  the  practical  objects  of  the  law.  He  must, 
therefore,  advertise  for  all  the  service  required.  He  must  advertise  for 
the  number  of  trips  per  week  which,  according  to  the  best  information 
•he  can  get,  is  likely  to  be  required.  He  must  advertise  for  the  rate  of 
speed  which,  according  to  the  best  information  he  can  get,  is  proper  for 
the  locality.  We  all  understand  that  in  certain  unfrequented  regions 
and  in  certain  mountainous  countries  it  is  very  absurd  to  ask  that  the 
mail  shall  be  carried  without  the  aid  of  railroads,  six,  eight,  or  nine 
miles  an  hour.  In  certain  regions  it  may  be  proper  not  to  carry  the 
mail  at  a  higher  rate  of  speed  than  three  miles  an  hour.  Perhaps  I 
ought  to  say  here  in  passing,  that  when  it  comes  to  speaking  of  service 
at  a  certain  number  of  miles  an  hour,  you  must  bear  in  mind  that  under 
the  rules  of  the  Post-Office  Department  when  a  .man  is  required  to 
transport  the  mail  at  the  rate  of  four  miles  an  hour  that  includes  all  stop- 
pages, and  that  every  postmaster  at  whose  office  he  stops  to  leave  and 
obtain  mail  is  authorized  to  detain  him  not  to  exceed  seven  minutes;  so 
that  if  there  is  a  single  post-office  the  hour  would  be  reduced  by  seven 
minutes,  and  so  on.  Xo\v,  if  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General 
believes  that  four  miles  an  hour  is  a  proper  rate  of  speed  he  has  no 
right  to  advertise  for  three  miles  and  then  expect  under  some  provis- 
ion of  the  law  to  increase  it.  He  is  bound  also  under  the  law  which  I 
read  to  you  in  fixing  the  proper  amount  of  service  to  have  regard  to 
"productiveness  and  other  circumstances,"  productiveness  being  the 
only  circumstance  specified.  He  must  make  up  his  mind  upon  that 
subject,  and  then,  having  made  up  his  mind  and  having  advertised  and 
having  received  bids,  he  must  award  the  contract  to  the  lowest  bidder. 
It  is  provided  in  section  3949  of  the  Kevised  Statutes : 

All  contracts  for  carrying  mailsshnllbe  in  the  name  of  the  United  States,  and  shall 
be  awarded  to  the  lowest  bidder  tendering  sufficient  guarantees  for  faithful  perform- 
ance without  other  reference  to  the  mode  of  transportation  than  may  be  necessary  to 
provide  for  the  due  celerity,  certainty,  and  securiry  thereof. 

Gentlemen,  in  those  three  words,  celerity,  certainty,  and  security,  we 
find  the  origin  of  the  phrase  "  star  route."  Prior  to  1845,  I  think,  the 
Postmaster-General,  in  awarding  contracts,  was  authorized  to  take  into 
consideration  other  matters  $  among  other  things,  if  I  remember  right,  the 
conveniences  that  the  contractor  had  for  transporting  passengers.  This 
led  to  great  abuses,  and  in  that  year  there  was  passed  a  statute  in  which 
the  words  celerity,  certainty,  and  security  appear.  And  when  contracts 
were  awarded  under  that  law  and  came  to  be  carried  on  to  the  Post-Office 


11 

records,  instead  of  putting  in  those  three  words,  celerity,  certainty,  and 
security,  they  carried  them  on  the  books  under  three  stars,  hence  came 
the  phrase  about  which  you  will  hear  so  much  in  this  trial.  1  fear  some 
of  you  may  think  you  will  hear  too  much  about  it. 

Mr.  HENKLE.  Your  honor,  this  is  the  hour  for-recess. 

The  COURT.  This  seems  to  be  a  convenient  time  and  we  will  take  a  re- 
cess for  half  an  hour. 

Accordingly  at  this  point  (1  o'clock  and  8  minutes  p.  m.)  the  court 
took  its  usual  recess. 


AFTER   REOESS. 

Mr.  Bliss  resumed  his  address  as  follows: 

But,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  notwithstanding  all  these  provisions  for 
advertising  and  for  supplementary  advertising  and  for  temporary  con- 
tracts the  law  looks  to  the  possibility  that  there  may  still  be  some 
accident  unprovided  for  by  which  the  mails  may  fail  to  be  carried,  and 
it  considers  it  necessary,  therefore,  to  make  further  provision.  It  may 
be  that  the  circumstances  under  which  a  contract  is  awarded — the  cir- 
cumstances in  the  country  through  which  the  route  runs — may  have 
changed,  rendering  it  advisable  to  increase  the  number  of  trips  per 
week,  or  to  decrease  the  trips,  or  to  increase  the  rate  of  speed,  or  de- 
crease the  rate  of  speed.  The  condition  of  the  country  may  change  by 
a  railroad  penetrating  the  country  which  takes  up  the  ordinary  railway 
mail  service,  and  necessarily  dispenses  with  the  star-route  service  which 
previously  supplied  the  locality  ;  or  it  may  be  that' some  mining  region 
has  been  proved  to  be  productive,  and  a  population  has  rushed  in  there 
with  the  rapidity  with  which  we  know  it  has  done  in  many  of  the  Western 
States,  and  it  may  be  necessary  there  to  make  additional  mail  service  ; 
or  a  mine  may  '•  play  out,"  and  it  may  be  proper  to  reduce  the  service. 
There  may  be  a  dozen  contingencies  which  may  arise  and  which  ex- 
perience shows  do  arise  which  may  render  it  desirable  in  the  eye  of  the 
law-maker,  and  wisely  render  it  desirable,  to  make  other  provisions  so 
that  by  no  possibility  should  the  real  needs  of  any  locality  in  mail  service 
fail  to  be  supplied.  It  may  be  also  that  after  advertising,  as  I  have  al- 
ready called  to  your  attention,  a  contractor  fails  to  perform  the  service, 
or  fails  to  enter  into  a  contract,  and  there  is  a  right  given  to  make  a. 
temporary  contract;  but  there  is  another  provision  of  law  to  meet  that 
case,  and  that  is  section  3951  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  which  provides 
that- 
Iii  all  cases  of  regular  contracts  hereafter  made  the  contract  may,  in  the  discre- 
tion of  the  Postmaster-General,  be  continued  in  force  beyond  its  express  terms  lor 
a'  period  not  exceeding  six  months,  until  a  new  contract  with  the  same  or  other 
contractors  shall  be  made  by  the  Postmaster-General. 

In  other  words,  the  Postmaster-General,  under  a  contract  about  to 
expire  on  the  30th  of  June,  1878,  could,  under  that  provision  of  law,  as 
of  right,  require  it  to  be  extended  for  six  months  at  the  same  rate  of 
pay,  to  give  him  time  to  make  any  arrangements  for  carrying  the  mail 
over  the  same  route  after  the  six  months  expired,  if  for  any  reason,  by 
failure  of  advertising,  or  failure  of  the  contractor  to  enter  upon  the 
service,  or  anything  .else,  the  service  is  not  performed  under  the  ad- 
vertisement. 

Then  we  come,  gentlemen,  to  other  provisions,  which  are  those  which 
come  chiefly  in  question  in  this  case.  There  are  two  provisions  taking 
their  origin  from  one  provision  of  law,  originally  passed,  I  think,  in  1825, 


12 

and  subsequently  separated  and  put  into  two,  to  which  pro  visions  I  now 
desire  to  call  your  attention.  One  of  the  provisions  looks  to  providing 
for  an  increase  of  the  number  of  trips  per  week.  If  a  contract  has  been 
made,  say,  for  three  trips  per  week,  one  of  the  provisions  looks  to  an  in- 
crease of  those  trips  possibly  to  seven  trips  a  week,  or  to  such  number  as 
may  be  decided  by  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General.  The  other 
provision  looks  to  tne  idea  of  increasing  speed.  Where  a  contract  has 
been  let  at  an  average  rate,  say,  of  three  miles  an  hour,  it  provides  for 
increasing  the  s\>eed  to,  say,  four  miles  an  hour,  and  for  the  adjustment 
of  the  compensation.  One  of  the  increases  is  usually  spoken  of  as  an 
increase  of  trips  or  of  service,  while  on  the  other  hand  the  provision 
looking  to' an  increase  of  speed  has  come  to  be  spoken  of  familiarly — 
and  you  will  constantly  hear  it  in  this  case  spoken  of  in  that  way — 
as  expedition ;  increase  of  speed  or  expedition  simply  relates  to  the 
same  number  of  trips  as  are  provided  for  in  the  contract,  but  the 
making  of  them  in  less  time  than  is  provided  for  in  the  contract,  while 
on  the  other  hand  the  question  of  the  increase  of  trips  does  not 
relate  to  speed,  but  only  to  the  number  of  trips  per  week.  You  not 
infrequently  "will  find  in  the  orders  of  the  assistant  postmaster  gen- 
eral, to  which  I  shall  call  your  attention,  that  there  is  first  an  increase 
of  speed  and  then  an  increase  of  expedition.  Section  3M5()  of  the  Re- 
vise d  Statutes  provides — and  let  me  say  before  I  read  this  that  you 
will  notice  as  to  both  these  provisions  of  law  that  they  do  not  them- 
selves confer  any  power  whatever.  They  simply  limit  a  power  which 
is  recognized  as  existing,  and  jet  it  is  a  power  which  so  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  find  has  never  been  expressly  conferred  by  statute,  but 
has  been  by  various  statutes  recognized  as  existing,  and  therefore  is  an 
undoubted  power.  Yet  the  statutory  pro  visions  on  the  subject,  it 
should  be  noted,  are  not  provisions  conferring  the  power.  They  are 
provisions  recognizing  it  as  an  existing  power  and  limiting  its  exercise. 
Section  31)00  provides  that — 

Extra  compensation  for  additional  service  in  carrying  the  mail  shall  not  be  in  excess 
of  the  exact  proportion  which  1  he  original  compensation  bears  to  the  original  service  ; 
and  when  any  such  additional  service,  is  ordered,  the  sum  to  be,  allowed  ther.  -for  shall 
be  expressed  in  the  order,  and  entered  upon  the  books  of  the  department;  and  no 
compensation  shall  be,  paid  lor  any  additional  regular  service,  rendered  before  the 
issuing  of  such  order. 

Now,  you  will  perceive,  gentlemen,  that  this  provision  simply  limits 
the  compensation. 

Compensation  for  additional  service  in  carrying  the  mail  shall  not  be  in  excess  of 
the  exact  proportion  which  the  original  compensation  bears  to  the  original  service. 

Under  that  the  practice  has  grown  up,  and  probably  a  correct  prac- 
tice, that  if  there  was  a  payment,  for  instance,  of  a  thousand  dollars  a 
year  for  one  trip  a  week,  and  the  trips  were  then  increased  to  two  trips 
a  week,  this  law  is  recognized  as  saying  that  the  amount  to  be  allowed 
when  there  are  two  trips  shall  not  exceed  two  thousand  dollars,  two 
trips  being  twice  as  much  as  one  trip,  and  two  thousand  dollars  being 
twice  one  thousand  dollars.  The  law  provides  that  that  limit,  shall  not 
be  exceeded.  It  is  not  a  provision,  you  will  perceive,  that  they  shall 
allow  twice  as  much  for  double  service,  but  only  that  they  shall  not 
exceed  it.  This  provision  gave  rise  to  a  phrase  which  you  will  con- 
stantly hear  in  the  course  of  this  trial,  and  that  is  pro  rata.  When  it 
is  said  that  so  much  increase  is  allowed,  "being  pro  rata,"  it  is  intended 
to  assert  that  where  the  service  has  been  doubled  the  compensation  is 
doubled,  and  where  it  has  been  trebled  the  compensation  is  trebled, 
and  this  allowance  is  pro  rata. 


13 

That  section  relates,  you  will  see,  to  an  increase  of  trips.  Section  3961 , 
which  I  am  about  to  read,  relates  to  increase  of  speed.  It  introduces  a 
little  more  complication  into  the  statement  and  carries  us  back,  to  our 
school  days  when  in  arithmetic  the  rule  of  three  was  the  stumbling 
block  to  a  good  many  of  us  : 

No  extra  allowance  shall  be  made  for  any  increase  of  expedition  in  carrying  the 
mail  unless  thereby  the  employment  of  additional  stock  and  carriers  is  made  neces- 
sary, and  in  such  case  the  additional  compensation  shall  bear  no  greater  proportion 
to  the  additional  stock  and  carriers  necessarily  employed  than  the  compensation  in 
the  original  contract  bears  to  the  stock  and  carriers  necessarily  employed  in  its  execu- 
tion. 

You  will  see,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  in  the  first  place  that  there  is  no 
right  to  pay  a  cent  of  extra  compensation  unless  the  increase  of  speed 
necessarily  involves  the  employment  of  additional  stock  and  carriers.  If 
it  does  involve  the  employment  of  additional  stock  and  carriers,  then  you 
may  not  allow  any  more  additional  compensation  than  the  compensation 
in  the  original  contract  bears  to  the  stock  and  carriers  necessarily  em- 
ployed in  its  execution.  As  to  the  effect  of  that  I  shall  have  occasion  to 
call  your  attention  to  it  in  a  moment.  But  I  now  pause  to  remind  you 
of  the  fact  that  these  provisions  of  law  complete  the  scheme  of  the  Post- 
Office  lawrs  so  far  as  they  relate  to  carrying  the  mails.  First,  ascertain 
what  service  is  likely  to  be  needed  during  the  four  years  of  the  contract 
term.  Then  advertise  for  it.  Advertise  fully ;  cover  all  the  service  there 
is  reason  to  believe  will  be  required.  Award  the  contract  to  the  lowest 
bidder.  If  an  emergency  arises,  give  a  temporary  contract  under  the 
provision  allowing  it  to  be  done  for  six  months,  until  an  advertisement 
can  be  made,  so  as  to  open  it  to  the  lowest  bidder,  or  meet  the  emer- 
gency if  it  occurs  within  six  months  after  the  commencement  of  the  new 
contract  term  by  extending  the  former  contract  at  the  same  rate  for  six 
months ;  or  when  these  fail,  meet  it  under  these  two  last  exceptional 
provisions  to  which  I  have  referred  relating  to  an  increase  of  trips  and 
to  an  increase  of  speed. 

You  will  see  that  under  these  there  is  a  limitation  that  you  shall  not 
allow  beyond  a  certain  amount.  It  is  not  said  who  is  to  do  it  or  any- 
thing about  who  is  to  decide  whether  there  is  to  be  an  increase  of  serv- 
ice, who  is  to  decide  whether  there  is  to  be  an  increase  of  speed,  nor 
who  is  to  decide  how  much  is  to  be  allowed  for  compensation,  either 
for  increasing  the  service  or  increasing  the  speed.  All  that  is  covered 
by  the  general  provision  which  I  read  to  you  which  vests  in  the  Second 
Assistant  Postmaster-General  the  entire  charge  of  everything  con- 
nected with  the  transportation  of  the  mails  and  the  amount  to  be  al- 
lowed therefor. 

These  provisions  Avhich  I  have  read  to  you,  called  provisions  for  in- 
crease of  service  and  increase  of  speed,  we  claim  were  intended  to  be 
exceptional  provisions  only  to  be  resorted  to  in  exceptional  cases.  I 
said  on  the  last  trial,  and  I  can  fairly  repeat  it  here,  that  they  were  in- 
tended to  be  the  medicine  of  the  postal  service,  and  that  Brady  made 
them  his  daily  bread.  He  resorted  to  them  constantly,  habitually,  un- 
necessarily, and  corruptly.  He  based  his  action  upon  pretended  evi- 
dence, showing  the  necessity  of  increased  service,  which  evidence  was 
not  only  false,  but  which  he  knew  to  be  false,  and  which  bore  on  its 
face  the  evidence  of  its  own  falsity.  He  based  his  action  as  to  the 
allowances  to  be  made  for  increased  speed  upon  papers  which  were  not 
only  false,  and  which  he  must  have  known  to  be  false,  but  which  no 
man  with  sufficient  capacity  to  read  them  would  ever  accept  as  genuine 
and  proper  documents  to  base  action  upon.  He  based  his  action  upon 


14 

documents  which  were  sworn  to  in  blank.  He  based  his  action  upon  docu- 
ments full  of  erasures  and  changes,  all  of  those  erasures  and  changes 
being  made  in  the  precise  spots  and  in  the  precise  manner  where  they 
would  take  the  greatest  amount  of  money  from  the  Treasury  if  they 
were  accepted  as  genuine.  He  went  to  the  extreme  limit  of  the  law. 
Where  the  law  said  you  shall  not  allow  more  than  a  certain  amount  for 
increase  of  service  he  habitually,  yes,  uniformly,  almost  without  excep- 
tion, went  to  the  ^extreme  limit  of  the  law,  when  it  is  perfectly  obvious 
that  there  was  no  justification  even  if  the  service  was  to  be  increased, 
in  paying  so  much  for  it.  Accepting  the  statements  which  were  made 
to  him  as  to  the  number  of  stock  and  carriers  necessary  to  make  in- 
creased speed,  accepting  those,  alte  red  as  they  were,  cheating,  as  they 
were  obviously  intended  to  be,  as  true,  he  went  to  the  extreme  limit  of 
the  amount  that  the  law  allowed  to  be  given  for  increased  speed. 
Moreover  the  law  expressly  says,  and  I  read  it  to  you  again: 

No  compensation  shall  be  paid  for  aiiy  additional  service  rendered  before  the  issu- 
ing of  the  order. 

Yet  he  made  orders  which  expressly  and  on  their  face  provided  for 
the  allowance  of  compensation  for  weeks  previous  to  theia  date  of  the 
order.  Probably  we  shall  confine  our  evidence  on  that  subject  to 'two 
or  three  instances  ;  it  may  be  to  one.  The  one  I  have  in  my  mind  will 
show  conclusively  that  there  was  an  order  by  which  compensation  was 
directed  to  be  allowed  at  a  large  amount  for  some  six  or  eight  weeks 
prior  to  its  date,  directly  in  the  face  of  this  statute.  Though  there  is  for 
a  portion  of  that  service  and  a  portion  of  that  time  some  reason  to  claim 
that  a  .telegraphic  dispatch  might  be  treated  as  a  prior  order,  yet  ac- 
cepting the  dispatch  as  all  that  can  be  claimed,  Mr.  Brady  still,  in  that 
case,  made  the  order  expressly  allowing  a  large  amount  of  compensa- 
tion from  a  period  prior  to  the  date  of  any  order  that  was  issued,  and  in 
direct  and  express  violation  of  the  statute.  We  say,  gentlemen  of  the 
jury,  that  Mr.  Brady  made  these  orders  unnecessarily,  improvidently, 
corruptly ;  that  he  directly  benefited  by  them,  and  that  he  made  them 
at  the  instigation  of  and  divided  the  profits  of  the  transaction  with  some 
or  all  of  the  other  defendants.  He  so  acted,  as  I  said  at  the  outset, 
and  that  action  was  entirely  under  these  two  provisions,  the  provision 
for  increase  of  service  and  the  pro  vision  for  increase  of  speed.  He  so 
acted  under  those  provisions  of  law  that  the  original  contracts,  having 
been  made  with  these  parties  by  which  they  were  to  receive  $41,155  a 
year  for  performing  the  service  on  these  nineteen  mail  routes,  they  were 
run  up,  without  advertising  and  by  virtue  of  the  secret  arrangement  with 
Brady,  so  that  he  allowed  to  them  $448,670  90  a  year.  He  multiplied 
them  considerably  more  than  ten  times  over,  and  he  did  that,  as  we 
say,  by  availing  himself  of  these  exceptional  provisions  of  law  and  in- 
troducing a  practice  into  the  Post-Office  Department  which  had  never 
prevailed  there  before,  to  wit,  the  practice  of  using  these  provisions  con- 
stantly, and  as  I  said,  as  the  daily  bread  of  the  postal  service  instead  of 
its  occasional  food  or  medicine.  We  shall  show  you,  gentlemen  of  the 
jury,  that  under  John  L.  Routt,  who  was  Second  AssiNtant  Postmaster- 
General  from  the  1st  of  January,  1872,  to  the  30th  of  June,  1875,  being 
three  years  and  a  half,  there  were  in  those  three  years  and  a  half  but 
fifteen  cases  in  which  resort  to  this  provision  as  to  increase  of  speed 
was  had  ;  that  under  James  N.  Tyuer,  who  was  Mr.  Brady's  immediate 
predecessor,  and  who  was  in  office  for  a  year 

Mr.  CHANDLER.  [Interposing.]  Mr.  Bliss 

Mr.  BLISS.  [Continuing] — there  were  but  five  cases  of  expedition. 


15 

Mr.  CHANDLER.  Your  honor,  I  ask  that  Mr.  Bliss  may  stop.  He  pays 
no  attention  to  me. 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  did  not  hear  the  counsel. 

Mr.  CHANDLER.  I  tried  to  make  myself  heard.  I  understood  that  on 
the  former  trial  of  this  case  an  offer  to  compare  the  administration  of 
the  Post-Office  Department  and  its  business  with  former  and  subse- 
quent administrations  was  not  permitted  by  your  honor  as  a  rule  of 
determining  whether  this  business  was  properly  or  corrupt!}'  conducted ; 
and  inasmuch  as  the  gentleman  is  pursuing  that  same  theory  now  and 
undertaking  to  compare  what  was  done  under  the  administration  of 
General  Brady  with  an  administration  which  preceded  him,  we  say  it 
is  not  a  subject  of  proof,  and  it  is  not  a  subject  of  statement  before  the 
jury,  and  we  object  to  it. 

The  COURT.  It  may  or  may  not  be  competent.  The  proper  time  has 
not  come  to  make  that  point. 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  simply  say  that  it  is  proper  evidence,  and  we  shall  claim 
it  to  be  proper  evidence,  as  showing  that  Mr.  Brady  introduced  a  new 
practice,  and  shall  ask  the  jury  to  infer  from  that,  in  connection  with 
other  evidence,  that  it  was  done  improperly. 

Mr.  CHANDLER.  If  your  honor  please,  it  cannot  be  any  evidence  of  a 
crime  that  one  administration 

Mr.  BLISS.  [Interposing.]  The  point  has  been  ruled  upon,  and  I  ob- 
ject to  further  interruption. 

The  COURT.  I  cannot  undertake  to  pass  upon  Mr.  Chandler's  ques- 
tion now. 

Mr.  CHANDLER.  I  only  raise  the  point  because  your  honor  ruled  it  out 
before.  ^ 

Mr.  BLISS.  He  has  ruled  it  in  now. 

The  COURT.  This  ca'se  is  being  tried  de  novo,  and  I  must  decline  to 
restrict  counsel. 

Mr.  BLISS.  Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  I  told  you  that  Mr.  Koutt  in  three 
years  and  a  half  had  only  fifteen  cases  of  expedition,  and  that  Mr.  Tyner 
in  a  year  had  only  five  cases  of  expedition.  Mr.  Brady  came  into  office 
on  the  23d  day  of  July,  1876.  Prior  to  the  30th  of  June,  1877,  being 
less  than  one  year,  he  had  had  fourteen  cases  of  expedition,  or  one  less 
than  Mr.  Eoutt  had  in  three  years  and  a  half.  M  r.  Brady,  in  the  year  from 
June  30,  1878,  to  June  30,  1879,  had  seventy  cases  of  expedition ;  and 
in  the  period  from  the  23d  of  July,  1876,  to  the  30th  of  April,  1881, 
being  four  years  and  nine  months,  Mr.  Brady  resorted  to  this  statute 
as  to  expedition  in  one  hundred  and  twenty  distinct  and  separate  cases, 
while  Mr.  Eoutt  and  Mr.  Tyner  together,  in  four  years  and  six  months 
— just  about  the  same  time — resorted  to  it  only  in  twenty  cases.  We 
shall  ask  you,  gentlemen,  in  connection  with  other  evidence  upon  that 
subject,  to  say  that  Mr.  Brady  coming  into  office  in  the  way  he  did, 
and  finding  this  exceptional  instrumentality,  which  had  previously  been 
resorted  to  only  in  exceptional  cases,  used  it  improperly  and  wrongfully. 
He  went  to  work  and  availed  himself  of  it  to  the  extreme  and  great 
extent  that  I  have  mentioned,  and  we  shall  ask  you  to  infer  from  that, 
in  connection  with  other  evidence,  that  Mr.  Brady's  course  was  dictated 
by  improper  motives. 

Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  let  me  call  your  attention  to  one  single  effect 
that  the  resort  to  that  practice  had  upon  the  Government.  When  an 
advertisement  is  made  for  a  postal  contract  it  is  provided  that  the  con- 
tractor shall  enter  into  a  bond.  That  bond  is  made  to  bear  a  certain 
fair  proportion  to  the  amount  paid  for  service  upon  that  same  route 
during  the  previous  con  tract  term.  If  the  payment  for  service  upon  the 


16 

route,  for  instance,  be  $2,500  a  year  the  bond  will  be  $1,500,  or  something 
of  that  kind.  The  bond  is  necessary  to  the  Government  for  this  reason: 
If  a  contractor  gets  a  contract  at  the  lowest  rate  he  may  be  several  hun- 
dred dollars  below  the  next  bidder.  He  enters  into  service  and  com- 
mences it,  and  then  fails  to  perform  it.  He  is  declared  a  failing  con- 
tractor. The  Post-Office  Department  then  has  to  make  an  arrangement 
with  some  other  man,  and  uniformly  is  compelled  to  pay  an  increased  price 
for  the  service.  They  have  then  to  look  to  the  bond  of  the  original  con- 
tractor lor  the  amount  that  they  have  lost  thereby  ;  but  they  can  only 
resort  to  that  bond  for  the  amount  specified  in  it.  We  shall  show  you 
routes  in  this  indictment  where  the  original  contract  sum  was  less  than 
$2,500,  I  think  I  am  right  in  saying  that,  where  the  bond  required  was 
about  $1,500,  and  where,  under  the  orders  of  Mr.  Brady,  the  amount  al- 
lowed for  service  was  run  up  within  a  year  to  about  $50,000,  and  yet  all 
that  the  Government  had  after  the  increase  w.as  a  paltry  bond  of  $1,500, 
adequate  to  the  original  bid,  but  not  at  all  adequate  to  the  increased  com- 
pensation. 1  call  your  attention  to  that  merely  as  showing  that  under 
the  provisions  of  the  law,  by  applying  this  exceptional  power  as  to  expedi- 
tion, Mr.  Brady  put  the  Government  in  a  position  to  suffer  great  loss 
without  the  possibility  of  resorting  to  that  protection  which  the  law  in- 
tended the  Government  should  have  for  the  enforcement  of  the  con- 
tracts for  mail  service. 

You  will  see  as  to  this  provision  for  increase  of  trips  that  the  statute 
says  the  Postmaster-General  shall  not  pay  in  excess  of  the  exact  pro- 
portion which  the  original  compensation  bears  to  the  original  cost.  If 
Mr.  Brady,  or  any  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General,  habitually  vio- 
lates the  law  in  this  respect,  if  he  does  it  without  due  inquiry,  if  he 
does  it  in  cases  where  increase  of  service  is  obviously  unnecessary,  if 
he  allows  for  it  excessive  sums,  all  that  is  necessarily  and  positively 
proof  of  misconduct  of  some  nature  on  his  part.  All  you  gentlemen,  as 
business  men,  must  know  that  an  increase  of  trips  does  not  neces- 
sarily nor  ordinarily  involve  a  proportionate  increase  of  the  price ; 
that  if  a  man  has  undertaken  to  carry  the  mail  once  a  week 
and  is  called  upon  to  carry  it  twice  a  week,  it  does  not  cost  him 
twice  as  much  money  to  do  it.  Take  a  short  route,  for  illustration,  that 
is  gone  over  in  a  day.  You  have  to  have  your  horses  and  your  wagons, 
and  it  will  not  cost  you  twice  as  much  to  go  over  that  route  twice  a 
week  as  it  will  to  go  over  it  once.  Suppose  it  is  a  route  that  you  are 
required  to  run  over  once  a  week  each  way,  which  will  take  your  horses 
two  days  in  a  week,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  time  they  are  standing  and 
"  eating  their  heads  off,"  to  use  a  common  expression.  If  you  are  called 
upon  to  go  over  that  route  four  times  a  week  instead  of  twice,  you  will 
see  plainly  that  doubling  the  trips  does  not  double  the  price.  But  if 
the  contractor  is  lucky  enough  to  have  some  convenient  Brady  make  a 
secret  order  about  it  he  can  get  his  pay  doubled  when  his  service  is 
doubled.  We  all  understand  that  on  the  longer  routes  there  are  other 
expenses — the  expense  of  supervision,  the  expense  of  rent,  of  stables, 
the  expense  of  hostlers,  and  many  other  expenses  which  are  not  doubled 
in  such  a  case.  All  of  you,  as  business  men,  know  that  it  will  not  cost 
you  twice  as  much  to  keep  two  horses  in  your  stable  as  to  keep  one. 
There  is  not  any  question  about  that.  Yet  we  shall  show  you  by  evi- 
dence in  connection  with  the  very  cases  in  this  indictment,  that 
although  Mr.  Brady  and  these  defendants  knew  these  facts,  they 
habitually  and  constantly,  for  their  own  benefit,  acted  in  viola- 
tion of  that  knowledge;  and  that  Mr.  Brady  allowed  sums  which 
he  knew  to  be  in  excess  of  the  fair  cost  for  the  increase  of  serv- 


ice.     We  shall  show  you  that  these  defendants  themselves  recognized 
it,    recognized  it  by  documents    formally  executed,   and  which  they 
placed  upon  the  Hies  of  the  department.     There  is  a  provision  of  the  law 
to  which  I  shall  have  occasion  to  call  your  attention  by  and  by,  known 
as  the  subcontract  law,  under  which,  when  a  mail  contractor  not  carry- 
ing the  mail  for  himself,  arranges  with  somebody  in  the  locality  to  carry 
it,  and  makes  a  suocontract  with  him,  that  subcontract  can  by  the  sub- 
contractor be  placed  on  tile  in   the  department.     These  subcontracts 
to  which  I  am  going  to  call  your  attention  were  on  file  in  Mr.  Brady's 
office,  and  showed  Mr.  Brady  that  these  defendants  themselves  recog- 
nized the  fact  that  an  increase  of  trips  did  not  necessarily  or  ordinarily 
involve  a  proportionate  increase  of  expense.     For  instance,  we  shall 
show  you  one  case  where  the  subcontract  made  by  these  defendants 
with  a  subcontractor  in  the  locality,  provided   that  the  subcontractor 
should  be  allowed  $1,400  a  year  lor  one  trip,  if  there  were  two  trips 
that  he  should  be  allowed  $2,000  a  year,  and  if  there  were  three  trips 
that  he  should   he  allowed  $3,700.      If  there  were  six  trips  he  was 
to  be  allowed  $7,000,  and  if   there  were  seven  trips  $7,500.     I  give 
you  that  particular   instance,  and  I  can  readily  refer   you  to  others 
showing   you  that  they  are  not   exceptional.      On    another  route  we 
find  by  their  subcontract  that  they  allowed  $700  for  one  trip,  $1,300 
for  two  trips,  $1,800  for  three  trips,  and  $3,300  for  six  trips.     On  an- 
other route  they  allowed  for  one  trip  $2,500  ;  for  two  trips,  $4,000,  and 
for  three  trips,  $5,100.     On  another  route  they  allowed  for  one  trip, 
$1,500;  for  two  trips,  $2,850;  for  three  trips,  $4,055,  and  for  six  trip*, 
$8,017.     On  another  route  they  allowed  for  two  trips,  $5,500 ;  for  three, 
$7,500 ;  for  six,  $  15,001),  and  for  seven,  $17,000.     The  subcontracts  made 
by  these  defendants  for  service  upon  these  routes  show  that  they  recog- 
nized the  fact  that  the  increase  of  service  did  noc  necessarily  involve 
a  corresponding  increase  of  expense.   Many  of  those  subcontracts  were  on 
file  in  Mr.  Brady's  office  convey  ing  that  same  information  to  him.     Wesub- 
mitthat  if  he  knew  what  he  was  bound  to  know  if  fit  for  his  place,  and  what 
he  was  bound  to  know  if  he  had  any  knowledge  of  the  simplest  business 
matters,  that  he  should  have  used  this  knowledge  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Government.  Moreover,  Congress  has  expressly  recognized  this  principle 
in  making  appropriations  years  ago  before  we  had  any  Pacific  Railroad  for 
transporting  the  mails  overland  to  California.  They  put  in  the  law  a  clause 
by  which  they  provided  $300,000  a  year  for  semi-monthly  service,  $450,000 
a  year  for  weekly  service,  and  $(>00,000  a  year  for  semi- weekly  service. 
It  is  so  obvious,  so  well  known,  that  that  must  be  the  result,  that  I 
think  we  may  almost  say  the  court  would  take  judicial  notice  of  the 
fact.     This  being  the  condition  of  things,  Mr.  Brady  habitually  and 
uniformly,  when  he  was  making  an  order  for  increase  of  service,  went  to 
the  extreme  limit  allowed  by  the  law.     We  shall  show  you  on  the  routes 
in  this  indictment,  as  far  as  increase  of  service  is  concerned,  twenty- 
nine  separate  orders  made  under  Mr.  Brady.     In  twenty-six  of  them  he 
deliberately  and  on  their  face  provided  that  there  should  be  allowed 
the  extreme  amount  authorized  under  the  law.     When  he  increased  one 
trip  to  three  he  multiplied  the  compensation  by  three.     When  he  in- 
creased two  tiips  to  six  he  multiplied  it  by  three.     For  illustration,  if 
the  original  compensation  for  one  trip  was  $1,000  and  he  ordered  seven 
trips,  he  allowed  $7,000.     That  was  almost  his  uniform  practice,  and 
that  happened  in  twenty -six  of  the  twenty-nine  orders  he  made.    The 
remaining  three  orders  were  cases  in  which  he  mixed  up  the  sum  he 
allowed   for    increase  of  speed   and  increase  of  trips    so   that  it  is 
d  fficult    to    say   how    much    was  allowed  for   one    and    how    much 

2GB 


18 

was  allowed  for  the  other.  I  think  I  shall  be  able  to  satisfy  you 
that  in  two  of  those  three  cases  he  allowed  for  the  increase  of  service 
the  extreme  amount  which  could  by  any  possibility  come  in  under  the 
law.  In  twenty-eight  of  the  twenty-nine  orders  made  on  the  routes 
specified  in  this  indictment  Mr.  Brady  went  to  the  extreme  limit  au- 
thorized by  the  law.  You  will  bear  in  mind,  gentlemen,  that  I  am  as- 
suming for  the  moment  that  the  increases  of  service  which  Mr.  Brady 
authorized  were  properly  authorized,  but  1  am  calling  yourattention  to 
the  fact  that  when  Mr.  Brady  came  to  decide  how  much  should  be 
paid — and  the  decision  rested  entirely  with  him — he  went  uniformly  to 
the  extreme  limit,  and  that  is  a  thing  which  no  honest,  provident,  and 
faithful  officer  could  do  under  the  circumstances. 

As  to  expedition  or  increase  of  speed  you  will  bear  in  mind  that, 
in  the  first  place,  no  allowance  of  extra  compensation  is  under  the 
statute  lawful  unless  by  such  increase  of  speed  additional  stock  and 
carriers  are  necessary.  If  additional  stock  and  carriers  do  not  be- 
come necessary  there  can  be  no  allowance  whatever  for  the  extra  speed. 
We  shall  show  you,  gentlemen,  cases  where  Brady  did  make  large  allow- 
ances for  increase  of  speed,  and  yet  we  shall  put  upon  the  stand  before 
you  drivers  who  were  carrying  the  mail  over  that  route  both  before  and 
after  the  extra  allowances  made  by  Mr.  Brady;  canying  it  on  the 
original  rate  of  speed,  and  on  the  increased  rate  of  speed,  and  who  will 
tell  you  that  they  did  not  use  any  additional  stock  or  carriers,  but  that 
the  identical  horses  and  men  went  over  that  route  day  after  day  at  the 
increased  speed  that  went  over  it  with  the  original  speed  j  and  yet 
Mr.  Brady  paid  large  sums  for  the  i-xpeditiou.  We  wtall  show  you 
cases,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  where  the  unfortunate  subcontractor  went 
on  doing  this  business,  and  though  he  had  a  provision  in  his  subcon- 
tract by  which,  if  the  speed  was  to  be  increased,  he  was  to  get  a  certain 
percentage  of  the  increased  compensation  allowed,  these  defendants 
went  on  drawing  from  the  Post-Office  Department  the  increase  of  com- 
pensation and  paying  him  only  his  original  compensation.  The  first 
•knowledge  some  of  these  contractors  had  that  the  Government  had  ever 
allowed  any  additional  amount  was  from  the  inspectors  whom  we  sent 
out  there  to  investigate  in  connection  with  this  indictment.  They  in- 
formed the  contractors  that  Messrs.  Dorsey  and  others  had,  under  the  or- 
ders of  Mr.  Brady,  been  for  years  drawing  thousands  of  dollars  a  year  for 
additional  compensation  for  service  which  the  subcontractor  had  rendered 
at  the  original  price  and  with  the  same  horses  and  the  same  men.  And 
here  let  me  say,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  that  you  will  find  in  this  case 
that  there  was  a  great  distinction  between  these  defendants  and  many 
other  people  engaged  in  the  mail  service.  That  with  a  single  exception 
they  were  not  mail  carriers ;  that  they  did  not  go  into  this  business 
with  the  idea  of  carrying  the  mail ;  that  they  went  into  the  business 
with  the  idea  of  getting  contracts  here  at  a  low  price,  in  many  cases 
bidding  lower  than  it  was  possible  for  the  service  to  be  rendered, 
lower  than  any  honest  bidder  could  bid,  with  the  intention  in  the 
first  place  of  arranging  with  some  subcontractor  in  the  locality  to 
carry  the  mail.  In  carrying  out  that  intention  they  arranged  with 
these  subcontractors  not  infrequently  to  pay  them  more  than  they 
themselves  were  getting  from  the  Government.  In  such  an  event  they 
took  care  immediately  to  obtain  from  Mr.  Brady  orders  for  expedition  by 
which  what  were  originally  losing  contracts  to  a  small  extent  became  at 
once  most  enormously  profitable  contracts.  Of  this  additional  amount 
which  they  got  they  gave  to  the  subcontractor,  who  really  performed 
the  service,  only  an  insignificant  proportion.  They  kept  all  the  rest 


19 

for  themselves  simply  for  their  expenses  in  carrying  on  business  in 
Washington !  We  shall  show  to  you  in  that  connection  some  rather 
extraordinary  things.  As  I  said,  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-Gen- 
eral had  110  right  to  pay  any  increased  compensation  unless  increased 
stock  and  carriers  were  required.  Mr.  Brady  made  allowances  where 
no  increased  stock  and  carriers  were  allowed.  Moreover,  Mr.  Brady 
made  allowances  even  where  increased  stock  and  carriers  were  required 
greatly  in  excess  of  the  proper  amount.  He  constantly  and  habitually 
allowed  sums  in  excess  of  the  stock  and  carriers  needed,  and  he  allowed 
sums  in  excess  of  the  stock  and  carriers  which  even  were  stated  to  be 
needed  on  the  evidence  before  him.  This  provision  as  to  stock  and  car- 
riers originated  I  think  in  the  statutes  in  1825.  It  was  there  a  provis- 
ion both  as  to  increase  of  service  and  increase  of  speed.  It  reads  in 
this  way: 

That  no  additional  allowance  shall  be  made  by  the  Postmaster-General  to  the  con- 
tractor or  carrier  of  any  mail,  on  any  route,  over  and  beyond  the  amount  stipulated 
in  the  contract  entered  into  for  the  transportation  of  the  mail  on  such  route,  unless 
additional  service  shall  be  required;  and  then  no  additional  compensation  shall  be 
allowed  to  exceed  the  exact  proportion  of  the  original  amount  to  the  additional  duties 
required.  • 

After  this  statute  had  been  in  force  some  ten  or  twelve  years  there  came 
up  a  post-office  scandal,  and  the  question  was  raised  as  to  whether  the 
statute  of  18.J5  applied  not  only  to  increase  of  service  but  also  to  in- 
crease of  speed.  There  was  an  investigation  in  Congress  on  that  sub- 
ject, and  it  seems  to  me  to  have  been  unlike  an  investigation  to  which 
I  shall  have  occasion  to  call  your  attention — a  thorough  one — and  there- 
upon there  came  reports  irom  Congress  and  reports  from  the  Post- 
master General. 

The  Postmaster-General  at  that  time  said  : 

For  expediting  the  mail  in  point  of  time  there  can  be  no  rule  for  determining  the 
pro  rata.  The  actual  increase  of  expense,  agreeable  to  an  ancient  provision  made 
in  contracts,  is  the  rule  which  governs.  It  is  frequently  done  at  a  less  rate,  but  when 
that  full  rate  is  demanded  some  evidence  of  the  increased  expense  is  required  before 
the  allowance  is  made. 

Congress  said: 

All  that  is  necessary  is  to  ascertain  the  expense  of  the  original  service  and  what 
will  be  the  expense  of  the  additional  service.  The  rule  would  then  be:  As  the 
amount  of  the  expense  of  the  original  service  is  to  the  compensation  therefor,  so  is 
the  amount  of  the  expanse  of  the  additional  service  to  the  pro  rata  additional  allow- 
ances. 

That  was  the  view  which  was  taken  in  Congress  and  by  the  then  Post- 
master-General as  to  the  provisions  then  applicable  to  the  subject. 

In  this  case  we  shall  show  you  that  upon  the  routes  in  this  indict- 
ment Mr.  Brady  made  fifteen  orders  for  expedition.  There  are  nineteen 
routes  in  the  indictment  and  he  made  fifteen  orders.  Twelve  of  the  or- 
ders on  their  face  purport  to  make  allowances  up  to  the  full  limit,  gauging 
that  limit  by  the  alleged  evidence  he  had  before  him.  That  is  to  say, 
if  he  had  a  statement  before  him  that  a  certain  number  of  stock 
and  carriers  was  then  actually  required  and  that  a  certain  number 
would  be  required,  he  applied  the  rule  of  three  laid  down  in  the 
statute  to  it  and  gave  the  extreme  limit.  I  shall  have  occasion  to 
call  your  attention  presently  to  the  absurdity  of  that  evidence  that  he 
had  before  him  on  the  three  remaining  orders.  In  one  case  he  allowed 
less  than  the  limit.  Taking  all  the  time  the  evidence  on  which  he 
claimed  to  base  his  action  the  amount  less  than  the  limit  in  one  case 
was  merely  nominal.  In  another  case  it  was  only  $1,300.  In  a  third 


20 

case  it  was  very  large;  but  it  was  large  because  of  the  monumental 
swearing  of  one  of  the  defendants  in  this  case,  John  K.  Miner,  who 
swore  that  an  increase  of  trips  would  require  an  addition  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  horses,  when  his  counsel 
will  not  dare  to  pretend  before  you  that  there  were  any  additional  men 
more  than  forty  necessary.  Yet  Mr.  Brady  makes  his  order  in  that 
case  as  being  less  than  the  limit,  or  less  than  pro  rat  a,  as  he  chooses 
to  put  it,  because  he  accepts  Mr.  Miner's  monumental  perjury  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  men  as  true.  Gauged  by  that,  it  is  less  than  pro 
rata.  Gauged  by  what  was  necessary,  it  is  greatly  in  excess  of  pro 
rata.  I  shall  have  occasion  to  call  your  attention  to  some  other  things 
in  connection  with  that  affidavit. 

I  have  said  that  this  evidence  upon  which  Brady  chose  to  act  in 
making  his  allowances  for  increase  of  speed  was  false.  Much  of  it 
was  absurdly,  transparently  false.  Assuming  that  an  application  was 
made  to  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General  for  an  increase  of 
speed  on  a  given  route,  what  would  he  as  an  honest,  faithful  officer  do? 
Would  he  not  ascertain  how  much  stock  and  how  many  carriers  were  then 
actually  employed  in  the  first  place,  and  could  he  not  readily  ascertain 
that  by  sending  to  the  postmasters  upon  the  route  ;  by  getting  state- 
ments from  the  men  who  were  carrying  the  mail  over  the  route,  and  if 
need  be  by  sending  one  of  his  inspectors  to  find  it  out?  Having  ascer- 
tained that  as  a  fact  he  has  one  of  the  elements  necessarily  entering 
into  the  question  as  to  how  much  should  be  allowed.  There  was  no 
difficulty  in  finding  that  out,  gentlemen.  It  involved  no  trouble  to  Mr. 
Brady.  It  involved  no  expense  to  the  Government,  and  is  it  not  the 
obvious,  the  natural  thing  to  do  to  find  it  out,  and  to  find  it  out  on  the 
spot,  from  the  people  who  were  carrying  the  mails,  how  many  men  and 
horses  they  were  using  in  so  doing  ?  Would  it  occur  to  anybody  to 
make  that  inquiry  of  the  men  who  were  here  in  Washington,  who  never 
were  on  the  route,  who  knew  nothing  about  it,  to  find  out  from  them 
what  they  said  was  the  number  of  stock  and  carriers  then  employed, 
and  to  accept  their  statement  as  final  and  conclusive?  Would  any  or- 
dinary business  man  think  of  doing  a  thing  of  that  sort?  And  let  me 
show  you  here,  gentlemen,  just  the  importance  of  this  condition  of 
things.  The  statute  says : 

The  additional  compensation  shall  bear  no  greater  proportion  to  the  additional 
stock  and  carriers  necessarily  employed  than  the  compensation  in  the  original 
contract  hears  to  the  stock  and  carriers  necessarily  employed  in  its  execution. 

You  have  to  find  out  how  many  are  employed  at  the  moment  under 
the  original  contract,  and  then  how  many  will  probably  be  employed 
under  the  increased  speed.  One  is  a  question  of  fact,  the  other  a  mat- 
ter of  opinion.  Now,  suppose  a  contract  provides  that  they  shall  carry 
the  mail  three  miles  an  hour  at  $5,000  a  year,  and  it  is  proposed  to  make 
an  increase  of  that  rate  to  four  miles  an  hour.  The  question  of  course 
is  how  much  additional  stock  and  carriers  are  necessary.  If  in  fact  on 
the  existing  rate  of  speed  it  requires  ten  men  and  carriers,  while  it  will 
take  on  the  increased  rate  of  speed  twenty  men  and  carriers,  then  by  the 
rule  of  three  laid  down  in  the  statute,  $5,000  being  the  sum  allowed  for 
the  original  service,  $10,000  would  be  the  sum  allowed  for  the  increased 
service,  because  it  takes  twice  as  many  horses  and  carriers  on  the  in- 
creased speed  as  upon  the  original  speed. 

But  accepting  that  as  the  true  state  of  the  fact,  suppose  that  in 
making  up  the  calculation  instead  of  taking  those  items,  and  instead  of 
saying  that  it  now  takes  ten  men  and  horses  to  carry  the  mail  on  that 
route,  Mr.  Brady  says  it  now  takes  five  men  and  horses  to  carry  the 


21 

mail  on  that  route,  and  it  will  take  twenty  men  and  horses  on  the  in- 
creased service.  In  that  way  he  has  understated  the  number  of  men 
and  horses  by  five,  just  half,  and  he  is  taking  the  increased  number  of 
men  and  horses  as  the  same  in  each  case.  What  is  the  result!  The" 
result  is  that  instead  of  allowing  $10,OUO  for  the  increased  speed  where 
$5,000  was  the  original  allowance,  Mr.  Brady  allows  $20,000  when  he 
should  have  allowed  $10,000.  He  has  doubled  the  amount  taken  from 
the  Treasury  by  the  simple  expedient  of  understating  by  one-half  the 
number  of  men  and  horses  whicli  were  then  actually  used. 

You  see,  gentlemen,  the  importance  of  getting  at  that  fact,  and  get- 
ting at  it  accurately:  "  How  many  men  and  horses  are  now  used  when 
I  am  about  to  make  this  order  for  increase  of  speed  is  the  question, 
because  if  I  understate  the  number  of  men  and  horses,  then  1  allow 
from  the  Treasury  a  sum  in  excess  of  the  legal  amount."  But  the  Gov- 
ernment could  be,  and  was,  defrauded  in  the  other  way;  that  is, 
stating  the  number  of  men  and  horses  that  were  used  at  the  moment  cor- 
rectly, say,  when  ten  were  then  actually  in  use.  In  fact  it  would  have 
taken  twenty  to  perform  the  increased  speed,  but  Mr.  Brady  estimated 
upon  thirty,  and  in  that  way  you  tind,  following  out  my  comparison  of 
$5,000,  if  Mr.  Brady  takes  and  states  correctly  the  number  of  horses 
actually  employed,  but  increases  the  number  that  will  be  employed  to 
thirty  instead  of  twenty,  the  result  is  that  instead  of  allowing  $10,000 
from  the  Treasury  he  allows  $15,000,  and  on  the  face  of  the  thing  it  is 
all  pro  rata.  The  rule  of  three  works  very  well  if  his  elements  going  to 
make  it  up  are  correct.  It  was  in  that  way  that  Mr.  Brady's  most  mag- 
nificent exploits  were  performed.  He  understated  the  number  of  men 
and  horses  actually  employed  then,  and  overstated  the  number  of  men 
and  horses  that  would  be  employed.  You  will  find  that  in  place  of 
$10,000  which  could  have  been  legitimately  taken  from  the  Treasury, 
$30,000  was  the  allowance,  and  yet  on  the  face  of  the  thing  it  was  all 
straight;  he  had  applied  it  all  right  and  he  had  only  gone  to  the  limit; 
he  said  ft ve  men  and  horses  are  now  employed,  when,  in  fact,  ten  were 
employed,  and  he  said  thirty  would  be  employed,  when  in  point  of  fact 
twenty  were  all  that  were  needed  for  the  increased  speed.  So  that  you 
will  see,  gentlemen,  that  these  two  little  elements  and  this  little  arith- 
metical rule  put  into  the  statute  gives  the  means  by  which  by  a  slight 
change  in  figures  the  Government  can  be  very  largely  defrauded.  Put 
the  original  figare  too  small  or  the  future  figure  too  large  as  tothe  num- 
ber of  men  and  carriers  arid  you  cheat  the  Government.  Either  put  one 
too  small  or  put  the  other  too  large  and  you  cheat  the  Government.  Put 
one  too  small  and  the  other  too  large  and  you  treble  the  cheat  substan- 
tially. 

Now,  what  did  Mr.  Brady  do  in  ascertaining  these  most  important 
numbers?  Did  he  do  as  any  honest  man  would  do,  as  any  fair  official 
would  do  ?  Did  he  make  any  effort  to  find  out  what  those  numbers 
were?  Did  he  send  tothe  locality  and  find  out  how  many  men  and 
horses  were  then  actually  being  used $  Did  he  inquire  of  people  ex- 
perienced in  the  business',  and  not  interested  in  the  sums  to  be  allowed, 
as  to  how  many  would  be  used  on  the  increased  service  f  No,  gentle- 
men, he  did  this,  and  only  this,  and  I  want  you  to  bear  it  in  mind,  for 
it  is  literally  true:  He  went  to  the  man  who  was  to  be  benefited  by 
the  allowance,  who  was  to  get  the  money  from  the  Treasury,  and  he 
received  from  him  a  brief  affidavit  not  larger  than  that  [exhibiting  a 
folded  paper],  in  which  the  man  said  that  the  number  of  stock  and 
carriers  now  employed  on  a  given  route  are  so  many,  and  the  number 
that  will  be  employed  on  an  increase  of  speed  will  be  so  many.  He 


22 

took  the  statement  of  that  interested  man  as  the  sole  evidence  upon 
which  he  acted,  and  upon  such  affidavits  he  made  orders  under  which 
he  took  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  from  the 
Treasury  of  the  United  States,  and  put  them  into  the  pockets  of  the 
men  who  made  those  affidavits,  barring  and  excepting  the  toll  that  he 
took  for  his  own  pocket  as  he  went  along. 

I  say,  gentlemen,  that  that  is  literally  true.  We  have  searched  in 
vain  to  find  a  case  where  Mr.  Brady  prior  to  making  an  order  for  in- 
crease of  speed  inquired  of  any  human  being  how  many  men  and 
horses  were  then  being  used  on  the  route,  or  how  many  men  and  horses 
would  be  .used  on  the  route,  other  than  of  the  man  who  was  to  be  di- 
rectly benefited  by  the  order  he  was  to  make  and  who  was  therefore 
interested  to  misstate  in  both  respects. 

Gentlemen,  if  there  were  nothing  else  in  this  case  than  Mr.  Brady's 
action  in  that  way  upon  those  papers  we  should  ask  you  to  say  that 
Mr.  Brady  had  so  acted  as  to  deserve  from  you  a  verdict  of  guilty, 
But  there  is.  gentlemen,  much  more  than  this.  There  appears  in  the 
Regulations  of  the  Post  Office  Department,  published  in  the  year  1879, 
a  provision  which  was  obviously  enforced  by  Mr.  Brady  prior  to  that 
date,  and  yet  we  are  unable  to  say  when  it  was  first  applied.  It  does 
not  appear  in  the  Regulations  of  the  Post-Office  Department  published 
in  1873.  It  does  appear  in  those  published  in  1879.  It  was  applied  by 
Mr.  Brady,  or  availed  of  by  Mr.  Brady,  in  every  expedition  that  he 
made  after  he  came  into  office  in  July,  1876.  While  I  do  not  think  it 
was  used  before  that  time  I  am  not  prepared  to  assert  that  it  was  not. 
It  may  possibly  have  been  in  existence  before  that  time,  but  it  was  not 
ordinarily  used.  That  provision  is  this  : 

When  it  becomes  necessary  to  increase  the  speed  on  any  route  the  contractor  will 
l>e  required  to  state  under  oath  the  number  of  horses  and  men  required  to  perform  the 
service  according  to  contract  schedule  and  the  number  required  to  perform  it  with  the 
proposed  increase  of  speed. 

That  provision  is  of  course  a  very  proper  provision  to  be  made  in 
such  a  case — that  the  contractor  who  is  to  be  benefited  should  be  re- 
quired to  give  his  own  statement,  and  to  give  it  under  oath,  of  the 
number  of  men  and  horses  he  is  then  using  and  the  number  that  he 
believes  he  will  use.  But  I  ought  to  call  your  attention  to  one  fact.  This 
regulation  speaks  of  the  number  of  men  and  horses  that  will  be  used. 
The  statute  speaks  of  the  number  of  stock  and  carriers,  and  in  the  prog- 
ress of  this  case  you  will  see  that  it  will  be  claimed  that  this  regula- 
tion is  broader  than  the  statute,  because  while  the  statute  says  you  can 
only  take  the  number  of  stock  and  carriers  engaged  in  carrying  the 
mail,  in  your  estimate  under  this  provision,  which  it  is  claimed  is  broader 
than  the  statute,  you  can  take  men  who  were  employed  as  hostlers 
and  everybody  else  who  was  directly  or  indirectly  engaged  in  the  mail 
carrying,  even  to  the  extent  of  reckoning  in  the  men  who  were  employed 
in  driving  the  wagons  that  hauled  the  oats  on  which  the  horses  were 
fed,  though  they  never  saw  or  touched  a  mail.  That  regulation,  if 
it  is  thus  broader  than  the  law,  was  habitually  resorted  to  by  Mr. 
Brady,  and,  if  thus  broader  than  the  law,  is  very  clearly  an  illegal  regu- 
lation. Yet  it  was  a  very  proper  regulation  in  some  form  to  get  from  the 
contractor  his  statement,  as  the  party-interested,  of  what  he  claimed  it 
would  be.  Of  course  we  all  know  that  human  nature  is  weak,  and  that 
if  we  were  to  be  benefited  by  an  increase  of  compensation  we  should 
be  apt  to  be  pretty  liberal.  We  probably  would  try  to  state  correctly 
the  number  of  men  and  horses  we  are  now  using,  but  I  think  our  judg- 
ment would  be  a  good  deal  biased  in  getting  at  the  number  we  should 


23 

be  likely  to  use;  and  tliat  ought  always  to  be  borne  in  mind  in  refer- 
ence to  this  matter.  But  Mr.  Brady,  under  that  regulation,  took  from 
the  contractor,  or  claimed  to  take  from  the  contractor,  his  affidavit  of 
the  number  actually  used,  and  the  number  that  would  be  used,  and  he 
took  nothing  else.  He  took  that  affidavit  of  the  contractor.  He  sought 
no  evidence  anywhere  else,  and  upon  the  basis  of  that  affidavit  he 
made  his  orders  allowing  to  the  contractor  the  extreme  limit  which 
that  affidavit  showed  him  entitled  to.  And  he  said  that  was  a  fair  and 
provident  administration  of  the  Post-Office  Department  of  the  United 
States. 

But  not  only  that,  you  will  bear  in  mind  that  this  affidavit  says  that 
the  contractor  will  be  required  to  state  under  oath  the  number  of 
horses  and  men  required.  But  when  it  suited  Mr.  Brady's  conven- 
ience, when  these  defendants  wanted  their  order  for  expedition,  so  that 
their  increased  pay  might  commence  promptly,  and  the  contractor  was 
probably  not  available  to 'make  the  affidavit,  they  quietly  had  some- 
body else  make  the  affidavit  and  Mr.  Brady  accepted  it.  If  that  some- 
body else  had  been  somebody  who  had  been  on  the  route,  who  knew 
anything  about  it,  there  might  have  been  some  justification  for  it. 
But  the  order  was  made  upon  the  affidavit  of  somebody  who  had 
no  connection  with  the  route,  who  had  never  been  near  the  route,  and 
knew  nothing  about  it.  I  do  not  wish  to  make  a  general  statement  of 
that  kind  without  referring  to  specified  items.  I  am  referring  only  to 
routes  in  this  indictment 

On  the  route  from  Pueblo  to  Eosita,  No.  38134,  the  contract  was  the 
contract  of  John  II.  Miner,  one  of  these  defendants.  So  far  as  the 
Post-Office  Department  knew,  outside  of  the  illegitimate  knowledge 
which  Thomas  J.  Brady  had,  John  E.  Miner  was  the  only  person  con- 
nected with  that  contract  for  carrying  the  mails.  Yet,  when  they  wanted 
to  increase  the  compensation,  Mr.  John  W.  Dorsey,  another  of  these 
defendants,  unknown  to  the  Post-Office  Department  so  far  as  this  route 
was  concerned,  made  the  affidavit  called  for  by  that  regulation.  Mr. 
Brady  accepted  it  as  conclusive,  and  upon  that  affidavit  made  the  or- 
der for  an  allowance  of  a  large  amount  of  extra  compensation. 

On  route  38140,  from  Trinidad  to  Madison,  John  E.  Miner  was  in  like 
manner  the  contractor.  Did  he  make  the  affidavit!  And  let  me  say, 
gentlemen,  you  will  find  in  the  progress  of  this  case  that  it  was  not 
from  inability  to  swear  that  Mr.  Miner  did  not  make  the  affidavit  in  this 
case.  Instead  of  his  making  the  affidavit  in  the  case  Mr.  John  W.  Dor- 
sey again  came  to  the  front  and  made  the  affidavit  which  Brady  took 
as  a  sufficient  voucher  for  taking  from  the  Treasury  a  large  amount  of 
money. 

On  the  route  from  Vermillion  to  Sioux  City,  No.  35015,  the  contractor 
was  the  same — John  E.  Miner,  I  think.  I  do  not  remember  who  the 
contractor  was  there.  Whoever  the  contractor  was,  Mr.  Harvey  M. 
Vaile,  another  of  these  defendants,  who  was  the  subcontractor,  made 
the  affidavit  upon  a  sheet  of  note  paper  with  the  heading  of  the  National 
Hotel  upon  it.  He  made  it  in  this  city,  and  made  it  when  he  never  had 
been  upon  the  route  and  never  knew  anything  about  it,  except  that  he 
was  going  to  make  by  that  affidavit  a  good,  round,  handsome  profit.  He 
made  that  affidavit  as  subcontractor,  though  it  was  not  in  accordance 
with  the  regulation  at  all,  and  Mr.  Brady  accepted  it  and  took  it  as  his 
sole  basis  for  his  order  taking  money  from  the  Treasury. 

On  route  38113,  from  Eawlius  to  White  Eiver,  in  like  manner  Mr. 
Perkins,  the  subcontractor,  made  the  affidavit ;  but  Mr.  Perkins  had 
this  advantage  over  anybody  else  in  this  case  who  made  an  affidavit 


24 

upon  which  Brady  acted :  Mr.  Perkins  had  been  on  the  route.  No  other 
human  being  who  made  one  of  these  affidavits  upon  which  Mr.  Brady 
acted  had  at  the  time  he  made  the  affidavit  ever  been  upon  the  route  to 
which  it  related  or  had  any  knowledge  as  to  the  number  of  men  and 
horses  actually  employed,  and,  other  than  Mr.  Vaile,  none  of  them  had 
by  experience  a  right  to  say  how  many  would  be  needed,  for  none  of 
them  other  than  Mr.  Yaile  had  ever  been  a  mail  contractor.  They  were 
nothing,  gentlemen,  but  a  set  of  speculators  in  mail  contracts,  and  never 
expected  to  carry  the  mails,  but  expected  to  get  the  contracts  at  a 
low  price,  get  them  expedited,  and  get  the  service  performed  by  sub- 
contractors, to  whom  they  would  pay  an  insignificant  proportion  from 
the  amount  that  they  drew  from  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States. 

What  is  the  result  of  allowing  such  affidavits,  so  made  by  these  par- 
ties, to  be  accepted  ?  Why,  the  result  was,  and  we  shall  place  before 
you  the  witnesses  who  will  show  it,  that  the  statements  were  almost 
uniformly  false  of  the  number  of  men  and  horses  then  actually  in  use, 
they  being  almost  uniformly  understated,  and  the  number  of  men  and 
horses  to  be  required  on  the  increased  service  almost  uniformly  over- 
stated. We  are  not  going  to  ask  you  to  come  to  that  conclusion  on  any 
question  of  opinion.  We  are  going  to  put  before  you  the  men  who 
drove  the  horses  before  and  after  the  increase.  And  we  are  going  to 
have  them  tell  you  in  their  frank  and  honest  way  precisely  what  were 
the  facts. 

These  affidavits,  made  by  contractors  or  subcontractors  who  had 
never  seen  the  route,  and  which  Mr.  Brady  chose  to  accept — I  am  not 
permitted  in  my  opening  to  show  you  the  papers,  gentlemen,  for  they 
are  not  yet  identified — we  shall  have  occasion  to  show  you,  and  I  think, 
from  the  mere  inspection  of  them,  you  will  he  able  to  see  that  not  only 
no  honest  man.  but  no  man  who  was  not  going  on  in  a  career  of  fraud 
and  corruption,  under  the  impression  that  he  would  never  be  investi- 
gated, would  have  made  orders  upon  such  papers.  They  are  altered. 
They  are  erased.  They  are  changed.  They  bear  all  the  insignia  of  fraud 
upon  their  faces. 

But  that  is  not  all,  gentlemen.  We  find  this  extraordinary  condition 
of  things.  On  route  38134,  from  Pueblo  to  Kosita,  which,  1  think,  is  the 
same  route  upon  which  the  obliging  Mr.  John  W.  Dorsey,  as  I  have  just 
stated  to  you,  was  allowed  to  make  the  affidavit  i?istead  of  Mr.  Miner, 
we  iind  that  there  were  actually  on  file  in  Mr.  Brady's  office  when  he 
made  the  order  for  expedition,  two  oaths,  both  made  by  John  W.  Dorsey, 
both  sworn  to  before  the  same  man  on  the  same  day — the  21st  day  of 
April,  1879 — and  in  one  of  them  he  says,  "The  number  necessary  to 
carry  the  mail  on  that  route  on  the  existing  schedule  is  two  men  and 
six  animals;"  and  in  the  other  affidavit  he  says,  " The  number  neces- 
sary to  carry  the  mail  is  three  men  and  twelve  animals."  Those  two 
affidavits  were  before  Mr.  Brady,  made  by  John  W.  Dorsey  on  the 
same  day,  and  yet  Mr.  Brady  chose  to  pick  out  one  or  the  other  of 
them  and  say,  "I  believe  that  as  the  absolutely  conclusive  statement 
of  the  number  of  men  and  animals  that  are  now  in  use  upon  that 
route,  and  upon  that  affidavit  I  will  make  my  order  taking  from  the 
Treasury  thousands  of  dollars  of  money."  You  will  see  that  the  first 
affidavit  made  the  number  two  men  and  six  animals,  making  eight 
as  the  number  of  stock  and  carriers  then  in  use ;  but  the  other  one 
called  for  three  men  and  twelve  animals,  making  fifteen  as  the  number 
then  in  use,  and  therefore,  according  as  he  accepted  one  or  the  other, 
by  the  rule  of  three,  to  which  I  called  your  attention  just  now,  there 


25 

would  be  twice  tlie  amount  of  money  allowed  from  the  Treasury  under 
the  one  affidavit  that  there  would  be  under  the  other. 

But  the  point  to  which  I  am  calling  your  attention  now  is,  that  Mr. 
Brady  chose  to  accept  one  of  the  affidavits  as  true  when  he  had  before 
him  the  two  affidavits,  and  one  or  the  other  must  have  been  square  per- 
jury. Yet,  as  I  say,  he  accepted  the  affidavit  of  a  man  not  connected 
with  the  route,  when  he  had  the  evidence  before  him  that  that  man  had 
committed  square  perjury  in  swearing. 

The  COURT.  Which  of  those  affidavits  did  he  use  ? 

Mr.  BLISS.  Well,  sir,  for  the  moment,  I  cannot  say.  My  own  im- 
pressions about  it  are.  and  I  think,  on  reflection,  we  shall  be  able  to 
show  it  to  you,  that  it  was  concluded  that  the  one  stating- the  small  sum 
was  a  little  too  bad,  and  that  that  would  not  do,  and  that  the  other 
was  put  on  file.  I  do  not  remember  at  this  moment  how  that  was. 
These  routes  get  a  little  mixed  in  my  memory. 

Mr.  DAVIDGE.  You  do  not  recollect  which  he  acted  on  ? 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  do  not,  sir. 

Mr.  INGERSOLL.  The  affidavit  requiring  the  least  money  was  the  one 
acted  on. 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  undertake  to  say,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  that  that  was 
not  so. 

Mr.  DAVIDGE.  Very  well. 

Mr.  BLTSS.  The  only  doubt  in  my  mind  is  precisely  this :  Whether 
the  result  of  the  application  of  the  rule  of  three  to  the  two  affidavits 
did  not  make  the  amount  required  under  each  of  them  substantially 
the  same  by  understating  one  and  the  other.  They  did  not  balance- 
But  I  do  say  that  I  am  very  clear  that  he  did  not  act  upon  the  affidavit 
which  gave  a  less  amount  than  the  other  affidavit  would  have  given. 
It  may  be  that  both  the  affidavits  would  have  given  the  same  sum. 
I  do  not  know  whether  that  is  true  or  not.  The  only  doubt  in  my 
mind  is  as  to  that.  But,  gentlemen,  the  point  to  which  I  am  directing 
your  attention  now  is  not  howr  much  money  was  taken  from  the 
Treasury  upon  these  affidavits,  but  I  am  directing  your  attention 
to  This:  That  a  man  who  could,  on  the  same  day,  swear  to  two 
affidavits  which  are  so  inconsistent  as  these,  and  who  had  therefore 
as  to  one  of  them  committed  a  perjury,  was  the  only  witness  whom 
Mr.  Brady  accepted  as  satisfactory  to  him  as  to  how  much  money 
should  be  taken  from  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States.  I  do  not  care 
whether  they  took  the  smallest  or  the  largest  sum.  They  took  it  upon 
the  evidence  of  a  man  whose  perjury  stared  Brady  in  "the  face,  and 
Brady  chose  to  say  that  was  sufficient.  Now,  as  to  the  other  affidavit. 
In  one  of  them  he  swore  that  on  the  increased  rate  of  speed  there 
would  be  required  six  men  and  eighteen  animals.  In  the  other  affidavit 
he  swore  that  on  the  increased  rate  of  speed  there  would  be  required 
seven  men  and  thirty-eight  animals.  The  total,  you  will  see,  is  in  one 
case  twenty-four,  and  in  the  other  case  forty-five.  Having  sworn  to 
two  affidavits,  both  of  which  could  not  be  true,  and  one  of  which  must 
be  a  lie,  it  was.  natural  that  he  should  go  on  and  swear  that  in  his 
opinion,  and  in  his  experience,  there  would  be  required  in  the  one  case 
twenty  four  men  and  animals,  and  in  the  other  case  forty-five  men  and 
animals  There  was  falsity  necessarily  in  one  or  the  other  of  those 
affidavits,  and  in  both  branches  of  one  or  the  other  of  the  affidavits. 
It  may  be  that  the  rule  of  three,  as  worked  out  between  them,  would 
result  in  taking  from  the  Treasury  only  the  same  amount  of  money. 
That  I  do  not  care  about  on  the  present  occasion.  The  point  I  ain 
making  is  that  the  affidavits  showed  Mr.  Brady  that  that  man  was  not 


26 

a  safe  man  to  take  as  bis  guide.  He  was  not  the  contractor  and  he  was 
not  the  subcontractor.  He  had  no  relation  to  the  routes,  and  yet  Mr. 
Brady  picked  him  out  because  he  happened  to  be  conveniently  available 
to  set  in  motion  the  machinery  by  which,  at  the  earliest  possible  moment, 
money  was  to  be  taken  out  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States.  One 
of  those  affidavits  was  filed  on  the  6th  of  May,  1879.  Another  of  them 
was  filed  on  the  8th  of  May,  1879.  The  order  was  made  after  the  latter 
date  when  both  affidavits  were  on  file. 

Mr.  Dorsey,  it  is  true,  having  put  the  first  oath  on  file,  on  the  6th  of 
May  wrote  a  letter  in  which  he  asked  permission  to  withdraw  the  first 
affidavit.  He  was  apparently  afraid  that  Mr.  Brady  would  not  have 
his  attention  called  to  the  fact  that  he  was  a  perjurer.  So  he  asked 
permission  to  withdraw  the  affidavit  to  correct  an  error  therein.  The 
next  day  he  corrected  the  error  by  putting  on  file  the  second  affidavit, 
and  so  far  as  the  correction  of  the  error  was  concerned  you  will  see 
that  there  is  not  a  single  figure  in  the  two  affidavits  which  is  identical; 
not  a  single  figure.  The  number  of  men  and  horses  actually  used  is 
given  in  each  and  the  figures  do  not  agree,  and  the  number  of  men  and 
horses  which  would  be  required  is  given  in  each  and  the  figures  do  not 
agree  there.  That  is  what  he  calls  correcting  an  error.  But  the  same 
Mr.  John  W.  Dorsey  made  another  error.  On  the  llth  of  March  he 
swore  to  an  affidavit  on  route  38145,  from  a  place  down  iu  New  Mexico 
called  Ojo  Calieute  to  Parrott  City,  that  the  number  then  necessary  to 
carry  the  mail  was  three  men  and  seven  animals.  He  took  that  oath 
up  in  the  pure  air  of  Vermont,  gentlemen,  and  six  weeks  later  he  got 
into  the  contaminating  atmosphere  of  Washington  and  then  he  found 
out  that  instead  of  three  men  and  seven  animals,  it  would  take  five 
men  and  fifteen  animals.  In  the  one  case  the  aggregate  was  ten  which 
was  to  be  used  as  the  factor  in  estimating  the  amount  to  be  taken 
from  the  Treasury,  and  in  the  other  case  the  aggregate  was  twenty 
which  was  the  factor  to  be  used.  You  will  see  those  figures  agree  pre- 
cisely with  the  supposititious  case  which  1  took  up  when  1  was  trying 
to  illustrate  to  you  the  effect  of  this  rule  of  three  in  the  statute  as  to 
expedition. 

The  COURT.  According  to  that  the  lower  the  figure  the  more  the 
money  ? 

Mr.  BLISS.  The  lower  the  figure  as  to  those  actually  in  use  the  more 
the  money.  The  higher  the  figure  as  to  those  to  be  used  the  more  the 
money. 

Mr.  DAVIDGE.  As  I  understand  it  the  point  contended  for  is  that  they 
lowered  the  past  and  increased  the  future. 

The  COURT.  Yes. 

Mr.  BLISS.  They  lowered  the  present. 

The  COURT.  For  example,  take  one  as  the  original  figure.  If  six  is 
the  second  figure,  it  would  be  multiplied  by  one.  If  the  original  figure 
is  two  and  the  next  figure  six,  that  would  be  three  times  more  than  two. 
So  that  it  was  to  the  interest  of  the  contractor  to  reduce  the  first  num- 
ber and  increase  the  second  number. 

Mr.  DAVIDGE.  He  has  already  stated  that  several  times,  your  honor. 

The  COURT.  I  know. 

Mr.  INGERSOLL.  There  is  no  doubt  about  that. 

Mr.  DAVIDGE.  It  is  a  mathematical  calculation. 

Mr.  BLISS.  There  is  obviously  an  excuse  for  the  two  affidavits  being 
on  the  record  on  this  route,  because  the  first  affidavit,  made  iu  Vermont, 
was  made  when  Mr.  Dorsey  and  his  associates  were  looking  to  an  idea 
of  getting  the  speed  so  increased  that  the  time  would  be  reduced  from 


27 

one  hundred  and  twenty  hours,  I  think  it  was,  to  eighty  hours.  The 
second  affidavit  was  made  when  they  had  become  more  enterprising, 
and  had  concluded,  six  weeks  later  in  Washington,  that  they  would  get 
the  time  reduced,  not  to  eighty  hours,  but  to  fifty  hours.  You  will  see 
that  no  matter  to  what  time  they  proposed  to  reduce  the  time,  no  mat- 
ter what  the  rate  of  increase  of  speed  was  proposed  to  be,  yet  in  both 
cases  in  the  affidavit  which  stated  the  number  of  men  and  horses  then 
actually  in  use  they  should  have  stated  the  same  number.  There  was 
no  change  there.  But  there  would  undoubtedly  be  more  horses  required 
in  the  future  to  reduce  the  schedule  to  fifty  hours  than  were  required 
to  reduce  the  schedule  to  eighty  hours.  Therefore  there  was  a  reason 
for  Mr.  John  W.  Dorsey's  getting  two  affidavits  on  the  files  of  the  Post- 
Office  Department,  and  it  was  not  an  error  that  he  had  to  correct.  The 
only  error  was  that  he  forgot  when  he  made  the  second  affidavit  what 
he  had  stated  in  the  first  affidavit  as  to  the  number  of  men  and  horses 
actually  in  use.  Those  two  affidavits  were  both  on  file,  both  staring 
Mr.  Brady  in  the  face,  and  both  in  the  very  envelope  on  which  Mr. 
Brady  indorsed  his  order  allowing  increase  of  pay.  He  based  his  or- 
der upon  the  papers  which  he  recited  were  inside  of  the  envelope.  They 
could  not  both  be  true.  Mr.  Brady  chose  to  accept  the  man  who  made 
those  two  affidavits,  both  of  which  could  not  be  true,  as  his  sole  author- 
ity for  taking  money  by  thousands  from  the  Treasury  of  the  United 
States.  There  is  no  escape  from  that,  gentlemen. 

There  is  another  case.  On  route  38113  John  W.  Dorsey  was  the 
contractor.  A  letter  was  written  by  Montfort  C.  Kerdell,  one  of  the 
defendants,  a  clerk  of  Stephen  W.  Dorsey,  then  still  a  Senator.  That 
letter  was  written  on  paper  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  It  was 
written  to  Perkins,  the  subcontractor  at  Rawlins,  Wyo.,  sending  him 
an  affidavit  to  be  sworn  to  in  blank  by  him  as  subcontractor.  He 
directed  him  to  swear  to  it  just  as  it  was,  leaving  the  blanks  unfilled. 
Perkins  swore  to  it  just  as  it  was,  and  he  sent  it  back  here  with  the 
blanks  unfilled.  Immediately  afterwards  the  blanks  were  filled  in  and 
the  affidavit  was  filed  in  the  department.  It  is  in  Mr.  Brady's  order 
recited  as  the  affidavit  upon  which  he  based  his  order  for  expedition 
and  allowance  in  that  case.  We  shall  place  before  you  the  notary 
public  who  took  the  affidavit.  We  shall  place  before  you  Mr.  Kerdell's 
letter  directing  it  to  be  taken  just  as  it  was,  without  change.  We  s*hall 
place  before  you  the  man  who  swore  to  it.  They  will  all  tell  you  that 
that  affidavit  was  sworn  to  in  blank,  was  sent  here  to  these  defendants, 
was  by  one  of  them  filed  in  the  department,  and  was  made  by  Brady 
the  basis  of  the  order  upon  which  he  directed  tens  of  thousands  of  dol- 
lars— I  think  it  was — to  be  taken  from  the  Treasury  of  the  United 
States. 

But,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  we  shall  show  to  you  a  still  more  ex- 
traordinary condition  of  things.  We  shall  show  you  that  the  ability  to 
make  two  affidavits  which  were  inconsistent  was  not  confined  to  John 
W.  Dorsey.  On  route  35051,  from  Bismarck  to  Fort  Keogh,  you  will 
find  a  good  many  queer  things,  but  I  will  now  only  ask  you  to  remem- 
ber one :  John  E.  Miner,  by  an  oath  filed  on  the  4th  of  October,  swore 
that  to  carry  the  mail  over  that  route  in  eighty-four  hours,  which  was 
the  original  time,  took  twelve  men  and  thirteen  animals,  making  twen- 
ty-five in  all,  and  that  to  carry  it  in  sixty-five  hours,  which  was  about 
twenty  hours'  reduction,  would  take  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty  animals.  Now,  in  that  affidavit  he  did  not  expressly 
say  that  he  was  referring  to  an  eighty-four  hour  schedule,  but  he  was 
making  an  affidavit  for  the  purpose  of  getting  the  time  reduced  to  sixty- 


28 

five  hours,  and  he  did  so  tinder  a  regulation  compelling  him  to  state 
the  number  which  would  be  required.  That  is  the  route  on  which  I 
told  you  that  Brady,  acting  upon  the  evidence  of  this  monumental 
swearer,  said  that  this  allowance  was  less  than  pro  rata.  By  mak- 
ing the  allowance  less  than  pro  rata  he  still  carried  the  original 
compensation  of,  I  think,  $2,250  up  to  $27,950.  He  said,  allowing 
him  $27,950,  and  assuming  that  it  would  take  three  hundred  men  and 
horses  to  carry  the  mail  on  the  increased  rate,  that  that  was  less  than 
pro  rata.  Well,  it  was  less  thaii  pro  rata  upon  that  basis.  But  what 
do  we  find?  We  find  this  condition  of  things:  In  the  Post  Office  De- 
partment, as  in  other  public  offices,  the  papers  relating  to  a  given  route 
are  tiled  away  in  what  is  practically  a  long  envelope  cut  open  at  the 
ends,  and  is  known  as  a  jacket.  When  Mr.  Brady  made  an  order  it 
was  made  on  the  back  of  the  jacket,  and  referred  to  the  papers  which 
were  inside.  The  order  recites  that  upon  such  and  such  papers  it  ap- 
pears so  and  so,  and  therefore  it  is  ordered  so  and  so.  Mr.  Brady's 
practice  was  to  look  over  these  papers,  and  then  to  indorse  ordinarily 
in  pencil  on  the  back  of  the  jacket  "Do  this — Brady."  That  indorse- 
ment was  the  voucher  on  which  some  clerk  went  to  work  and  wrote  out 
a  formal  order,  which  was  indorsed  on  the  back  of  the  jacket,  reciting 
the  papers;  and  that  was  the  authority  under  which  money  was  taken 
from  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  by  hundreds  of  thousands  and 
millions.  Kow,  in  the  very  jacket  on  which  Mr.  Brady  indorsed  the 
allowance  of  $27,950,  and  felicitated  himself  that  it  was  less  than  pro 
rata,  accepting  Mr.  Miner's  statement  that  it  would  take  three  hundred 
men  and  horses,  we  find  this  condition  of  things :  We  find  inside  of  the 
jacket  another  jacket  which  contains  an  indorsement  reciting  precisely 
the  same  petition  of  the  same  officers  and  the  same  papers  in  every 
respect  all  the  way  down,  agreeing  almost  absolutely,  and  yet  when  we 
come  to  see  on  what  it  is  based  we  find  this :  The  contractor,  that  is, 
Miner — 

Furnishes  sworn  statement  that  for  service  three  times  a  week  on  the  present 
schedule  eleven  men  and  twelve  animals  are  required. 

That  was  not  much  different  from  the  affidavit  which  was  finally  used, 
which  is  twelve  men  and  thirteen  animals,  making  twenty-five  in  the  ag- 
gregate instead  of  twenty-three.  But  he  also  furnished  a  sworn  state- 
ment that  thirty  seven  men  and  seventy-three  animals  would  be  required 
on  a  sixty-five-hour  schedule.  He  swore  that  a  hundred  and  fifty  men 
and  a  hundred  and  fifty  animals  would  be  required  on  the  eighty-four- 
hour  schedule,  and  Mr.  Brady  accepted  that  and  made  an  order  upon 
it,  felicitating  himself  that  it  was  less  than  pro  rata,  and  that  he  had 
saved  a  few  hundred  or  a  thousand  dollars  ;  but  he  had  before  him  at 
that  time  the  affidavit  of  the  same  John  R.  Miner  that  to  make  a  speed  of 
sixty-five  hours  it  would  require  only  thirty -seven  men  and  seventy-three 
animals,  making  a  hundred  and  ten  as  the  factor  to  be  used  in  calcu- 
lating the  amount,  and  not  three  hundred,  as  it  was  made  under  the 
affidavit  which  Mr.  Brady  chose  to  accept.  The  existence  of  that  affi- 
davit is  recited  upon  the  paper  in  the  very  jacket  on  which  Mr.  Brady 
made  his  order.  That  affidavit  has  unfortunately  disappeared,  how  or 
when  we  cannot  say;  but  we  shall  place  before  you  the  man  who  in- 
dorsed that  jacket  to  which  I  referred  as  on  the  inside  and  he  will 
tell  you  that  that  affidavit  was  there,  that  he  made  that  indorsement 
upon  the  inside  jacket,  and  that  the  inside  jacket  so  indorsed  was  in 
Brady's  possession  at  the  time  he  made  the  order.  When  he  was  making 
an  order  upon  John  K.  Miner's  affidavit  he  had  the  statement  before  him 


29 

that  it  would  require  a  hundred  and  fifty  men  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  ani- 
mals to  carry  the  mail  at  a  certain  rate,  and  yet  John  E.  Miner  had  also 
filed  an  affidavit  stating  that  it  would  take  but  thirty-seven  men  and 
seventy  three  animals  to  do  the  same  service.  Brady  chose,  with  that 
evidence  staring  him  in  the  face,  to  accept  Mr.  John  E.  Miner's  affidavit 
as  sufficient  to  justify  the  making  of  an  order  carrying  up  an  allowance 
of  $2,250  to  $27,950.  Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  we  shall  ask  you  from  that 
evidence,  from  evidence  such  as  that,  and  from  evidence  other  than  that, 
to  draw  the  inference  that  Mr.  Brady's  action  in  this  matter  was  not 
that  of  an  honest,  incorrupt  official. 

On  the  nineteen  routes  in  this  case  there  were  on  file  eighteen  affi- 
davits used  for  expedition.  On  one  of  the  nineteen  routes  in  this  indict- 
ment there  never  was  any  expedition.  The  fraud  upon  the  Govern- 
ment there  consisted  in  paying  twice  over  for  the  same  service.  One 
of  the  eighteen  affidavits  was  made  by  Vaile.  I  have  already  told  you 
that  it  was  made  on  National  Hotel  paper  and  made  in  this  city,  and 
was  made  and  filed  although  Vaile  did  not  pretend  ever  to  have  been 
on  the  route  or  to  have  known  of  his  own  knowledge  anything  that  he 
swore  to.  He  did  have  the  advantage  over  the  other  defendants  of  be- 
ing a  mail  contractor,  and  therefore  had  some  experience  upon  which 
to  judge  on  a  statement  of  facts  by  others,  as  to  what  would  probably 
be  required.  But  he  had  no  knowledgeas  to  what  number  was  actually 
required.  That  affidavit  of  Vaile's  is  an  unaltered  affidavit.  It  will 
come  before  you  with  no  evidences  of  alteration  upon  it.  There  is  an- 
other affidavit  made  by  Miner  which  will  come  before  you  without  any 
alteration.  Every  one  of  the  remaining  sixteen  affidavits  which  were 
used  as  the  basis  for  making  orders  to  take  money  from  the  Treasury 
of  the  United  States  will  come  before  you  bearing  upon  their  face  evi- 
dences of  alterations,  erasures,  or  insertions.  They  are  sworn  to  in. 
regular  form,  and  yet  erased  and  with  insertions  so  made  that  no  busi- 
ness man  would  accept  them.  They  would  not  be  accepted  in  any  court 
or  by  any  business  man  without  some  explanation.  Why  are  these  al- 
terations there J?  Why  are  all  the  affidavits  full  of  erasures  T  The  era- 
sures and  the  alterations  are  in  every  case  with  regard  to  the  figures, 
which  were  the  elements  which  determined  how  much  should  be  taken 
out  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States.  We  think  we  shall  be  able 
to  satisfy  you  that  these  affidavits  present  evidence  of  the  growing  greed 
of  these  parties,  that  they  were  made  at  a  time  when  they  were  content 
to  take  from  the  Treasury  one  amount  of  money  illegitimately,  but  as  their 
immunity  went  on  and  their  greed  increased,  they  thought  they  would 
have  more  money  from  the  Treasury.  It  may  be,  that  their  expenses 
were  greater.  It  may  be  tbat  they, had  to  make  larger  u  divvies.'7  At 
any  rate  their  greed  increased,  and  then  they  altered  the  affidavits  by 
putting  in,  larger  figures.  However  that  may  be  the  affidavits  were  all 
made — except  that  of  Perkins,  which  was  sworn  loin  blank — by  men  who 
were  never  on  the  routes.  Sixteen  of  the  eighteen  were  altered  on  their 
face,  and  those  affidavits  were  the  only  evidence  which  Brady  had  be- 
fore him,  on  which  the  allowances  to  these  defendants  were  run  up  from 
$41,000  a  year  to  $448,000  a  year.  We  shall  ask  you  on  that  evidence — 
of  course,  in  connection  with  other  evidence — to  say  that  the  acts  of 
Brady  and  these  other  defendants  were  the  acts  of  men  engaged  in  a 
corrupt  conspiracy  to  defraud  the  United  States.  Brady  violated  not 
only  the  spirit  of  the  law,  but  he  violated  its  direct  letter.  He  acted 
upon  insufficient  affidavits.  He  acted  upon  altered  affidavits.  He  left 
it  to  the  person  benefited  to  be  the  sole  judge  of  how  much  he  should 
have  from  the  Treasury.  He  accepted  evidence  which  could  not  have 


30 

been  accepted  by  any  honest  man  if  he  was  not  blind.  He  made  allow- 
ances on  that  evidence  in  excess  of  what  the  evidence  called  for.  He 
made  allowances  in  violation  of  the  statute  by  antedating  the  effect  of 
the  orders.  All  this  we  shall  show  you  by  the  records  of  the  depart- 
ment, which  there  will  be  no  attempt  to  impeach. 

I  said  that  he  ran  up  the  amount  from  $41,000  to  $448,000  qn  such  orders 
and  based  upon  such  affidavits.  I  was  not  entirely  correct  in  that  state- 
ment. That  amount  is  the  aggregate  amount  of  increases  not  only 
for  expedition  which  had  affidavits  as  its  basis,  but  it  also  included  in- 
crease of  trips  for  which  no  affidavit  was  required.  Trips  were  in- 
creased at  Brady's  own  sweet  will,  because  the  law  only  said  that  the 
pay  should  not  exceed  the  proportionate  amount  of  increase.  As  to  expe- 
dition, the  l;iw  said  there  must  be  this  arithmetical  calculation.  Hence 
the  device  of  these  deceptive  affidavits  to  comply  seemingly  with  the 
law. '  In  point  ot  fact  Brady  made,  I  think,  thirteen  orders  for  expedi- 
tion, carryiiiii'  up  service  already  incurred  to  $159,299.95  to  $317,718.54, 
or  just  about  double.  At  the  same  time,  and  without  affidavits,  he 
made  the  increase  of  trips  carrying  it  up  to  $448,000.  1  may  have  got 
confused  on  these  figures  to  some  small  extent. 

Some  of  these  orders  were  not  his  in  form,  but  were  so  in  fact.  But, 
gentlemen,  these  affidavits  told  their  own  tale  in  another  direction,  the 
taleot  their  absurdity,  the  tale  of  the  impropriety  of  Brady's  undertak- 
ing to  base  anything  upon  them.  Take  route  35051,  from  Bismarck  to 
Fort  Keogh,  upon  which  Miner  made  these  two  affidavits.  On  the 
original  schedule  the  speed  was  three  and  sixty  one-hundredths  miles  an 
hour.  On  the  expedited  schedule  it  was  four  and  sixty  oue-hundredths 
miles  an  hour.  Practically  an  increase  of  one  mile  an  hour.  On  theorig- 
nal  schedule,  judging  in  each  case  by  Miner's  oath,  each  horse  had  to 
travel  twenty  three  miles  a  day — not  an  excessive  distance.  But  on  the 
expedited  schedule,  assuming  that  as  many  horses  were  needed  as  Mr. 
Miner  swore  to,  each  horse  would  have  to  travel  only  two  miles  a  day. 
Mr.  Brady  accepted  the  statement  that  it  was  necessary  on  that  route 
to  have  such  a  number  of  horses  that  no  horse  should  travel  more  than 
two  miles  a  day.  If  they  had  used  double  teams  they  would  have  had 
to  have  gone  four  miles  a  day.  I  am  obliged  to  use  an  illustration  not 
arithmetically  correct,  because  if  you  reduce  anything  a  hundred  per 
cent,  you  wipe  it  out;  but  it  will  probably  carry  to  your  minds  the  idea 
I  want  to  express  when  I  say  that  they  made  an  increase  of  speed  of  a 
mile  an  hour  and  thereby  reduced  the  capacity  of  each  horse  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  per  cent.,  and  upon  that  route,  gentlemen,  this  was 
done ;  the  route  being  started  at  $2,350  a  year,  by  the  addition  of  in- 
creased trips  $14,100  was  added  ;  then  by  the  addition  of  the  increased 
speed  of  one  mile  an  hour  $55,000  more  was  added,  and  the  result  was 
that  that  route,  let  to  Miner  after  public  bidding,  which  originally 
started  at  $2,350  a  year,  before  he  and  Brady  got  through  with  it,  was 
run  up  to  something  over  $70,000  a  year,  and  run  up,  gentlemen  of  the 
jury,  as  to  all  except  $14,000  of  that  amount  upon  the  affidavit  of  John 
II.  Miner,  which  the  papers  on  file  in  Mr.  Brady's  office  showed  him 
could  not  be  true,  because  there  were  two  inconsistent  affidavits  there, 
and  a  mere  analysis  of  the  affidavits  showed  it  could  not  be  true,  be- 
cau.se  it  proceeded  upon  the  basis  that  each  horse  would  have  to  travel 
only  two  miles  a  day. 

Now  take  another  route.  On  the  route  from  Pueblo  to  Eosita,  by  the 
original  schedule,  the  speed  was  three  and  twenty-six  one-hundredths 
miles  an  hour,  and  on  the  expedited  schedule  it  was  four  and  nine  one- 
hundredths  miles,  therefore  increasing  it  somewhere  about  three-quar- 


31 

ters  of  a  mile  an  hour.  On  the  original  schedule  every  horse  would 
have  to  travel  sixteen  and  one-third  miles  a  day.  To  make  three  quar- 
ters of  a  mile  more  in  an  hour  over  that  short  route,  it  was  necessary 
to  reduce  the  daily  travel  of  each  horse  from  sixteen  and  one-third 
miles  to  five  and  four-ninth  miles  a  day.  The  horses  that  that  affi- 
davit said  would  be  necessary  for  the  increased  speed  would  have  to 
travel  to  make  it  only  five  and  four  ninths  miles  a  day.  Does  anything 
need  to  be  said,  gentlemen,  to  show  you  that  it  is  not  necessary  for 
hors  s  in  carrying  the  mails  at  a  rate  of  about  four  miles  an  hour  that 
they  shall  travel  only  five  miles  and  a  half  in  a  day  1? 

On  the  route  from  Silverton  to  Parrott  City,  on  the  original  schedule, 
evei*y  horse  would  have  to  travel  thirteen  miles  a  day — only  thirteen 
miles  a  day,  mind  you.  I  am  taking  the  statement  of  the  men  and 
horses  in  actual  use.  And  on  the  expedited  schedule  every  horse  would 
have  to  travel  four  and  one-third  miles  a  day. 

On  the  route  from  Mineral  Park  to  Pioche,  on  the  original  schedules, 
every  horse  would  have  to  travel  six  and  sixty-four  one-hundreths 
miles  a  day.  On  the  expedited  schedule  the  horse  would  have  to  travel 
six  and  twenty  one-hundredths  miles  a  day.  Does  anybody  need  any 
argument  to  show  that  either  on  the  original  or  on  the  expedited  sched- 
ule it  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  a  horse  could  g  >  onl}T  six  arid  one  third 
miles  a  day  f  On  that  route  it  is  right  to  say  that  the  fraud  did  not 
chiefly  come  in  in  that  connection.  They  had  some  queer  inconsistencies 
in  these  affidavits.  They  might  have  sometimes  benefited  themselves 
by  being  more  consistent. 

On  the  route  from  Toquerville  to  Adairville  every  horse  on  the  orig- 
inal schedule  would  have  to  travel  twenty-four  miles  a  day,  but  on  the 
expedited  schedule  he  would  have  to  travel  only  thirteen  and  one- 
third  miles  a  day.  On  the  original  schedule  the  rate  was  two  miles  an 
hour.  You  will  see  how  they  understood  it  there.  Accepting  the  state- 
ment of  horses  actually  in  use,  every  horse  that  they  stated  was  in  use, 
to  have  got  over  the  route  in  the  schedule  time  of  two  miles  an  hour 
would  have  to  travel  twenty-four  miles  every  day.  Every  horse 
would  have  to  travel  all  the  time  every  day,  week  in  and  week  out,  if 
t  ley  only  had  that  number  of  horses  alleged.  And  yet  Mr.  Brady  ac- 
c  ipted  that  as  conclusive.  And  if  on  t..at  route  there  had  been  put  on 
soven  trips  a  week  which  the  affidavit  was  seeking  to  get,  and  that  affi- 
davit was  made  upon  the  basis  thatt  here  would  be  seven  trips  a  week, 
every  carrier  would  have  to  travel  eighty  miles  in  a  day,  and  what  is 
the  climax  of  absurdity,  he  would  have  had  to  travel  forty  hours  in 
every  twenty-four.  That  is  the  affidavit,  gentlemen,  that  Mr.  Brady 
accepted.  That  is  the  sole  affidavit  and  the  sole  evidence  that  he  had 
and  on  which  he  took  thousands  of  dollars  from  the  Treasury. 

On  the  route  from  Eugene  City  to  Bridge  Creek,  on  the  original 
schedule,  according  to  the  affidavit,  each  horse  would  have  to  travel 
nineteen  and  seven  one-hundredths  miles  a  day,  and  on  the  expedited 
schedule  he  would  have  to  travel  only  five  and  nine  one-huudreths  miles 
a  day. 

On  the  Canyon  City  and  Camp  McDermitt  route,  on  the  original 
schedule,  accepting  the  affidavit  always,  each  horse  would  have  had  to 
travel  eight  and  sixty  eight  one-hundreths  miles  a  day.  On  the  expe- 
dited schedule  he  would,  according  to  the  affidavit,  have  had  to  travel 
only  three  and  fifteen  one-hundreths  miles  a  day;  and  on  that  route, 
gentlemen,  to  carry  the  speed  from  one  and  eighty-seven  one-hundredths 
miles  an  hour,  which  is  a  little  less  than  two  miles  an  hour,  up  to  two 
and  one-half  miles  an  hour,  Mr.  Brady,  upon  such  aii  affidavit  as  I  have 


32 

just  described  to  you,  ordered  paid  to  these  defendants  $29,950.  To 
carry  the  speed  up  on  that  route  in  Oregon  through  an  unfrequented 
region  one-half  a  mile  an  hour  he  paid  $29,1)50,  and,  to  be  accurate,  gen- 
tlemen, 06  cents. 

On  the  route  from  Julian  to  Colton,  if  we  take  the  oath  as  correct,  on 
the  original  schedule  each  horse  had  to  travel  twenty  and  six  one-hun- 
dredths  miles  a  day.  On  the  expedited  schedule,  if  we  take  the  oath  as 
correct,  he  only  had  to  travel  five  and  seventy-two  one-huudredths  miles 
a  day. 

On  the  route  from  Bedding  to  Alturas  on  rhe  original  schedule  a  horse 
had  to  travel  twelve  and  eight  one-huudredths.  On  the  expedited  sched- 
ule, taking  the  affidavit  as  correct,  he  had  to  travel  only  tive  and  seven 
one-hundred  the  a  day. 

On  the  route  from  Saint  Charles  to  Greenhorn,  on  the  original  sched- 
ule, a  horse  had  to  travel  twenty-seven  and  forty-three  one  hundred ths 
miles  a  day,  and  when  it  came  to  the  expedited  schedule  that  horse  had 
to  travel  only  six  and  eighty-five  one-hundredths  miles  a  day.  And  yet, 
gentlemen,  we  shall  show  you  that  it  was  the  same  horse  all  the  time, 
and  that  he  went  over  that  route  in  the  same  way  ;  that  there  was  no 
increase  of  horses  and  no  increase  of  men,  and  we  think  the  affidavit 
was  in  fact  a  lie,  just  as  all  these  affidavits  showed  to  Mr.  Brady,  or  to 
any  officer,  or  to  any  man  who  chose  to  examine  them,  that  on  their 
very  face  they  were  lies.  Yet  those  affidavits  were  the  sole  evidence 
upon  which  Mr.  Brady  took  enormous  sums  from  the  Treasury  of  the 
United  States.  I  could  go  on  and  give  you  additional  details  of  those 
affidavits.  You  must  believe,  gentlemen,  for  the  present  certainly,  that 
they  are  all  of  that  same  general  nature.  They  are  all  cases  where  the 
affidavit  showed  upon  its  face  that  it  was  not  and  could  not  be  true. 

But,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  Mr.  Brady  had  before  him  at  the  time 
he  made  these  orders  other  evidence  showing  that  he  was  doing  what 
no  honest  officer  could  do. 

I  have  already  referred  to  the  law  as  to  placing  the  subcontract  on  file. 
I  think  there  is  but  one  of  the  nineteen  routes  which  was  run  by  any  of 
these  parties.  Upon  all  the  others  they  had  subcontracts,  as  I  recollect, 
though  in  some  cases  the  subcontracts  were  not  put  on  file,  and  I  shall 
presently  have  occasion  to  show  you  why  they  were  not  put  on  file.  The 
subcontracts  that  they  made  were  on  a  form  that  they  had  prepared  and 
had  printed  themselves  and  contained  provisions  that  the  subcontractor 
agreed  to  carry  the  mail  on  the  existing  schedule  and  at  the  existing  rate 
of  speed,  the  same  number  of  trips,  and  the  same  amount  of  speed,  for  so 
much  money.  Then  they  contained  the  provision  that,  supposing  the 
original  schedule  is  one  trip  and  two  trips  shall  be  ordered,  they  will  carry 
it  for  a  given  sum,  which  is  less  than  double  the  amount.  If  three 
trips  shall  be  ordered  that  they  will  carry  it  for  a  given  sum,  which  is 
less  than  three  times  the  amount.  And  then,  also,  most  of  them  con- 
tained the  provision  that  in  case  the  speed  should  be  increased,  they  will 
carry  the  mail  at  the  increased  speed  for  a  certain  percentage  of  the 
amount  allowed  by  the  Government.  I  think  in  no  case  is  it  stated 
at  over  (>5  per  cent,  of  the  amount  to  be  allowed.  You  will  bear  in 
mind,  gentlemen,  that  the  law  said  that  Mr.  Brady  could  not  allow 
any  sum  in  excess  of  a  given  amount.  His  duty,  as  an  honest  officer, 
was  to  get  it  as  much  below  that  sum  as  he  could  get  it  and  have  the 
service  fairly  and  properly  performed  by  someone  who  would  feel  that  he 
was  adequately  compensated  for  the  service  rendered.  And  yet  you  will 
find  this  condition  of  things :  that  when  Mr.  Brady  had  before  him  on 
the  files  of  his  department  subcontracts  which  said  that  a  certain  man 


33 

was  actually  carrying  the  mail  at  three  miles  an  hour,  that  he  agreed 
to  carry  it  at  four  miles  an  hour  for  65  per  cent,  of  the  additional 
allowance  from  the  Government,  Mr.  Brady  would  make  an  order  say- 
ing that  there  shall  be  allowed  for  carrying  the  mail  on  the  increased 
service  $10.000,  and  of  that  $10,000  $4,500  shall  ,go  to  the  man  who  has 
actually  to  carry  the  mail,  and  $6,500  shall  go  to  the  man  who  is  to  sit 
here  iii  Washington,  and  make  the  arrangements  to  get  this  expedi- 
tion ordered.  Mr.  Brady  having  those  subcontracts  on  tile  in  his  de- 
partment, where  he  saw  that  people  agreed  to  do  the  expedited  service 
at  65  per  cent,  or  a  given  percentage  (I  think  in  some  cases  they  agreed 
to  do  the  expedited  service  for  a  round  sum,  but  I  am  not  sure  about 
that),  made  orders  for  those  large  sums  and  actually  put  into  his  order 
that  only  a  fragment  of  that  amount  should  go  to  the  man  who  was  to 
carry  the  mail,  and  the  remainder  was  to  go  to  the  man  who  was  to  sit 
here  in  Washington  and  not  carry  the  mail,  and  did  that  under  that 
law  which  I  have  read  to  you,  and  I  suppose  claims  that  that  was  an 
honest  exercise  of  his  powers.  You  will  bear  in  mind  that  he  did  not 
voluntarily  do  that.  When  a  subcontract  got  on  file,  under  the  sub- 
contract law,  the  money  that  the  subcontract  called  for  had  to  be  paid 
to  the  subcontractor,  and  therefore  when  Mr.  Brady  made  an  order  for 
expedition  in  a  case  where  a  subcontract  was  on  file  he  had  to  pro- 
vide in  his  order  how  the  money  should  be  distributed.  But,  gentle- 
men, these  parties  took  pretty  good  care  not  to  have  very  many  of  these 
subcontracts  on  file.  They  made  it,  as  we  shall  show  you,  a  condition 
in  a  large  number  of  cases  where  there  were  subcontractors,  that  they 
should  not  put  their  subcontracts  on  file,  and  for  fear  that  the  subcon- 
tractors might  become  acquainted  with  the  character  of  the  parties  with 
whom  they  were  dealing  and  violate  their  agreements  and  put  their  sub- 
contracts on  file,  these  defendants  resorted  to  this  little  device:  On 
a  given  route  the  post-office  contract  was  with  John  E.  Miner,  on  an- 
other route  with  John  M.  Peck,  and  on  another  route  it  was  with 
John  W.  Dorsey.  Well,  what  was  done  with  these?  John  E.  Miner 
on  his  route  would  make  a  subcontract  with  John  W.  Dorsey  as  a  sub- 
contractor, and  would  put  that  on  file,  and  as  the  law  did  not  allow  but 
one  subcontract  on  each  route,  if  the  subcontractor  out  in  the  locality 
sent  his  contract  here,  as  some  of  them  did,  to  have  it  filed  they  would 
be  answered,  "  We  cannot  file  it ;  there  is  another  one  on  file."  John 
W.  Dorsey  in  turn  on  his  route  would  make  John  E.  Miner  the  sub- 
contractor, and  then  John  M.  Peck  on  his  route  would  make  John  W. 
Dorsey  the  subcontractor.  Occasionally  they  would  vary  the  matter 
by  making  their  clerk,  Montfort  C.  Eerdell,  the  subcontractor  and  file 
his  subcontract.  Arid  after  Stephen  W.  Dorsey  got  out  of  the  Senate 
and  he  thought  it  was  safe  for  him  to  throw  off  the  cloak,  then  Stephen 
W.  Dorsey  would  come  in  occasionally  as  subcontractor.  Every  one 
of  these  men  were  interested  in  some  of  these  contracts  and  in  this 
conspiracy  ;  but  no  one  of  them  was  a  mail  contractor;  no  one  of  them 
ever  carried  the  mail  a  mile.  No  one  of  them  ever  expected  to  be  a  sub- 
contractor in  fact,  and  as  to  many  of  these  routes  these  bogus  subcon- 
tracts were  placed  on  file  instead  of  the  existing  subcontracts  with  the  men 
who  were  carrying  the  mails.  When  Dorsey  became  the  subcontrator 
for  Miner,  or  Miner  for  Peck,  or  John  W.  Dorsey  for  brother  Stephen, 
they  always  made  a  subcontract  by  which  they  were  to  have  the  full 
amount  awarded  under  the  contract,  including  all  that  was  to  be  given 
for  expedition  or  increase  of  service.  They  were  to  have  the  whole 
thing.  So  that  it  was  not  necessary  in  these  cases,  when  Brady  came 
to  make  his  order,  to  put  in  any  specification  how  much  of  the  amount 

3GB 


34 

that  lie  awarded  for  expedition  was  to  go  to  the  man  who  was  to  run 
the  mail  ami  how  much  to  the  man  who  sat  here  in  Washington  doing 
nothing,  because  Mr.  Brady  made  his  order  that  the  whole  amount 
should  go  to  the  subcontractor  who  was  sitting  here  in  Washington 
doing  nothing,  except  making  little  arrangements,  applying  a  little 
"•  greaf-e,"  and  doing  what  was  necessary  to  get  these  things  through 
the  Post-Office  Department.  In  that  way  the  subcontract  law  was,  in 
the  ordinary  language,  "beat,"  and  Mr.  Brady  was  prevented  from  the 
necessity  of  making  any  undue  exposure  of  his  own  corruption  in  his 
orders  for  expedition,  because  he  had  not  to  say  in* those  cases  that  any 
money  should  go  to  the  man  who  was  not  in  form  at  «least  carrying  the 
mail. 

"With  reference  to  that  let. me  call  your  attention  to  one  of  two  in- 
stances. On  the  route  from  Julian  to  Colton  Mr.  Brady  made  the  order 
for  expedition,  directing  that  $17,964  should  be  allowed  for  the  expedi- 
tion, and  that  only  $10,500  of  that  should  go  to  the  man  whom  he  knew 
was  actually  performing  the  service,  and  he  directed  that  the  remain- 
ing $7,404  should  go  to  the  man  whom  he  knew  was  not  performing 
the  service. 

So,  on  the  route  from  Eawlins  to  White  Biver,  the  contractor  got 
$13,706.25,  and  the  unfortunate  subcontractor  got  $5,100. ,  There  was 
a  later  stage  in  that  case  at  which  the  contractor  got  $31,000,  giving 
$23,000  to  the  subcontractor  and  kept  $8,000  to  himself. 

There  are  a  series  of  those  cases  which  I  have  here  t<j  which  I  shall 
have  occasion  to  call  your  attention  where  Mr.  Brady  put  it  squarely 
into  the  order  that  they  should  get  only  those  amounts,  and  in  this  con- 
nection it  is  well  for  me,  perhaps  without  reference  to  his  orders,  to  call 
your  attention  in  connection,  with  this  subcontract  law  to  another  point 
of  view. 

On  the  route  from  Kearney  to  Kent  the  contractor  received  before 
expedition — the. contractor,  I  think,  was  John  W.  Dorsey — $888.  He 
agreed  to  pay  $700  to  the  man  who  carried  the  mail — the  subcontractor. 
He  got  ifc  expedited  so  that  he  received  $4,302.65.  He  paid  out  to  the 
man  who  was  carry  ing  the  mail,  $1,587. 40,  and  kept  for  himself  $2,715.25. 
The  man  who  was  doing  the  service  got  $1,587,  and  the  man  who  was 
sitting  here  in  Washington  got  $2,715,  and  that  under  Brady's  orders 
for  increase  of  service  and  expedition. 

On  the  route  from  Pueblo  to  Kosita  the  contractor  under  Brady's 
orders  got  $8,148.  By  a  subcontract  on  file  from  the  outset  of  the  con- 
tract the  service  was  performed  for  $3,100.  So  that  there  was  a  case 
in  which  $5,048  went  into  the  contractor's  pocket  as  appeared  by  the 
papers  on  tile  in  Mr.  Brady's  office  at  the  time  he  made  his  order,  and 
this  subcontractor  who  was  getting  $3,100  had  such  a  good  thing  of  it 
at  that  price  that  he  got  somebody  else  to  perform  the  service  at $2,600 
and  put  $500  in  his  own  pocket.  Thus  the  man  who  did  the  service  was 
paid  $2,600,  and  the  Government  was  paying  for  it  under  Brady's  or- 
ders $8,148. 

On  the  route  from  Toqnerville  to  Adairville  the  contractor  got 
$20,894.22.  The  subcontractor  who  did  the  service  got  $8,444.  The 
man  who  sat  here  in  Washington  therefore  got  for  himself  and  his  ex- 
penses $12,450  without  any  cdst.  Gentlemen,  right  here  let  me  call 
your  attention  to  this  fact :  Under  all  the  subcontracts  that  they  made, 
if  there  was  any  deduction  for  not  performing  the  service  ;  if  there  was 
any  fine  for  not  arriving  on  time  ;  if  there  was  anything  taken  off  by 
the  Post-Office — and  no  man  can  run  the  mail  service  without  exposing 
himself  to  some  deductions— every  dollar  of  fines  and  every  dollar  of 


35 

deductions  was  taken  off  from  the  pay  of  the  subcontractor,  while  the 
contractors,  Dorsey  and  company,  sitting  here  in  Washington,  got  their 
sum  net.  These  conspirators,  I  ought  to  say,  sitting  here  in  YVashing- 
ton,  got  their  sum  net,  for  we  do  not  believe  you  will  think  on  the  evi- 
dence we  shall  show  you  that  Mr.  Brady  was  foolish  enough  to  let  the 
contractors  have  all  the  money. 

On  the  route  from  Ojo  Caliente  to  Parrott  City  the  contractor  got  eventu- 
ally $31,343.76,  and  the  subcontractor  got  at  one  time  $(5,200 ;  at  another 
time,  $7,300;  and  when  the  subcontractor  wrote  to  Mr.  Stephen  W.  Dor- 
sey that  to  do  the  service  for  which  he  (Dorsey)  was  getting  $14,333, 
though  the  subcontractor  did  not  know  it,  it  would  cost  $12, 000,  and  there- 
fore said,  UI  am  not  getting  enough  when  you  give  me  only  $6,200." 
Mr.  Stephen  W.  Dorsey  wrote  him  back  in  almost  substantially  this  lan- 
guage:  "  You  are  a  fool ;  don't  talk  so.  It  would  not  cost  any  such  sum 
to  carry  the  mail  on  that  route."  And  yet  the  sum  that  this  man  said 
it  would  cost  to  carry  the  mail  on  that  route  which  Dorsey  said  was 
nonsense  was  only  $12,000,  and  Mr.  Brady  was  ordering  paid  from  the 
Treasury  to  Mr.  Dorsey  at  that  very  time  $14,300  for  carrying  that  mail. 
Mr.  Dorsey  either  lied  to  his  subcontractor  or  Mr.  Brady  was  an  un- 
faithful officer. 

The  COURT.  Adjourn  the  court. 

At  this  point  (4  o'clock  p.  m.)  the  court  was  adjourned  until  to-mor- 
row morning  at  11  o'clock. 


FRIDAY,    DECEMBER   15,    1882. 

t 

The  court  met  at  11  o'clock. 

Present,  counsel  for  the  Government  and  for  the  defendants. 

Hon.  GEORGE  BLISS  resumed  his  address  to  the  jury,  as  follows: 
At  the  adjournment  yesterday,  gentlemen,  I  had  called  your  atten- 
tion to  the  scheme  of*  the  laws  as  to  advertising,  to  the  provision  for 
public  competition  and  the  letting  to  the  lowest  bidder,  to  the  provis- 
ion made  for  cohering  omissions  and  contingencies  under  the  statute, 
to  the  fact  that  Brady  had  resorted  to  the  exceptional  power  and  provis- 
ions as  to  expedition  and  increase  of  service  greatly  in  excess  of  any- 
thing that  had  ever  been  done  before  in  the  history  of  the  department, 
but  I  failed  in  that  connection,  gentlemen,  to  state  to  you  a  most  sig- 
nificant fact  which  I  ought  to  have  stated:  that  from  the  time  Mr. 
Brady  went  out  of  office  as  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General  down 
to  the  present  time,  there  has  been  no  instance  of  a  resort  to  expedition 
in  the  history  of  the  Post  Office  Department,  and  that  the  mails  have 
been  successfully  carried,  and  without  complaint,  through  the  entire 
country  at  a  saving,  and  that,  therefore,  Mr.  Brady's  large  use  of  that 
power  could  not  have  arisen  from  any  change  of  the  circumstances,  but 
that  the  condition  of  things  was  practically  not  changed  from  that 
which  prevailed  before  he  became  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General, 
when  it  was  necessary  to  resort  to  these  provisions  only  very  rarely — 
twenty  times  in  five  years — and  that  while  within  the  last  year  and  a 
half  it  has  been  not  necessary  to  resort  to  them  once,  yet  Brady,  in  about 
four  years  and  a  half  found  it  necessary,  or  claimed  to  find  it  necessary, 
to  resort  to  them  one  hundred  and  twenty  times.  I  called  your  attention 
also  to  the  fact  that  Mr.  Brady  when  he  did  make  increases  made  them 
up  to  the  extreme  limit  allowed,  and  how  he  made  them  on  improper  evi- 


36 

dence;  bow  lie  accepted  affidavits  erased  and  altered;  how  he  founded 
them  on  the  statements  of  affiants,  which  contradicted  themselves  by 
other  affidavits  also  before  him  at  the  same  time,  and  how  he  sought  no 
other  affidavit;  how  the  affidavits  on  the  face  of  them  showed  that  they 
were  absurd,  and  that  when  they  stated  that  so  many  horses  and  men 
were  necessary  they  made  a  statement  which  showed  that  they  assumed 
that  each  horse  was  to  travel  only  from  two  to  four  miles  a  day;  how  he 
allowed  increases  greatly  in  excess  of  the  proper  amounts,  and  how  it 
was  shown  by  his  own  orders  that  this  was  so  because  he  directed  in 
his  orders  that  only  a  portion  of  the  sum  should  be  paid  to  the  men  who 
were  carrying  the  mails,  and  a  very  large  portion,  very  frequently  the 
largest  proportion,  to  the  men  who  sat  here  in  Washington  and  did 
nothing  towards  carrying  the  mails. 

But,  gentlemen,  I  must  follow  this  thing  along  further.  We  say  that 
he  paid  for  expedition  where  there  were  very  great  misstatemeuts  in 
the  affidavits  as  to  the  number  of  men  and  horses  either  then  required 
or  which  would  be  required.  For  instance,  upon  the  route  from 
Eugene  City  to  Mitchell,  No.  44140,  up  in  Oregon,  the  oath  is  that 
for  three  trips  on  the  then  existing  schedule  it  required  four  men 
and  nine  animals,  and  that  on  a  fifty-hour  schedule  it  would  requiie 
ten  men  and  thirty  animals.  In  point  of  fact  that  affidavit  did  not 
greatly  misstate  the  number  of  men  and  animals  then  actually  em- 
ployed. We  shall  show  you,  by  the  man  who  carried  the  mail  after  the 
increase,  that  instead  of  giving  it  correctly  when  they  gave  it,  as  re- 
quiring forty,  in  point  of  fact  it  icquired  only  twenty  six,  and  that 
therefore  the  increase  originally  was  from  four  men  and  nine  animals, 
a  total  of  thirteen,  to  a  total  of  twenty-six,  when  they  made  the  state- 
ment that  it  would  require  forty,  nearly  double,  the  result  of  that  being 
that  by  the  application  of  the  rule  of  three  in  that  matter  there  was 
allowed  under  that  order  in  that  case  for  expedition  nearly  twice  as 
much  as  should  have  been  allowed  had  the  affidavit  truthfully  stated 
the  fact  as  to  the  number  of  men  and  horses  which  would  be  required; 
even  taking  twenty-six  as  the  number  which  were  actually  used,  it  only 
required  each  horse  to  travel  fourteen  miles  a  day. 

On  the  route  from  Pueblo  to  Greenhorn,  38135,  the  oath  was  that  to 
make  three  trips  a  week  required  one  man  and  one  animal;  that  to 
make  three  trips  on  a  less  schedule,  or  seven  hours,  would  require  two 
men  and  four  animals.  In  other  words,  it  required  two  at  that  time, 
and  it  would  require  six  to  increase  the  schedule.  That  was  the  oath, 
and  yet  we  shall  show  you  that  from  the  commencement  of  that  service 
down  to  the  present  time,  when  it  was  on  the  long  schedule  and  when 
it  was  on  the  short  schedule,  it  has  always  been  run  by  the  same  num- 
ber of  men,  the  same  number  of  horses,  and  by  identically  the  same 
horses,  the  only  change  being  that  sometimes  one  man  became  a  carrier 
and  sometimes  another.  We  shall  put  before  you  those  men  who  were 
successively  the  carriers  upon  that  route,  and  they  will  tell  you  that 
fact,  and  you  will  see,  gentlemen,  that  this  was  the  result.  Not  only 
was  Mr.  Brady's  allowance,  based  upon  this  affidavit  from  the  interested 
contractor,  an  excessive  allowance,  but,  under  the  statute,  it  was  an 
allowance  he  had  no  right  to  make  at  all,  because  there  was  no  right  to 
make  any  allowance  unless  the  result  of  an  increase  of  speed  was  the 
necessity  ol  using  additional  stock  and  carriers;  and  there  were  no 
additional  stock  and  carriers  rendered  necessary  in  carrying  it  at  the 
increased  speed. 

On  the  route  from  Yermillion  to  Sioux  Falls  Mr.  Vaile  swore  that  it 
would  require  three  men  and  twelve  horses  to  make  three  trips  upon 


37 

the  then  existing  schedule,  which  was  a  schedule  of  fifteen  hours,  I 
think ;  that  to  make  the  trips  in  ten  hours  would  require  five  men  and 
ten  horses.  In  point  of  fact  it  required  three  men  and  twelve  horses; 
and  you  will  bear  in  mind,  gentlemen,  in  that  connection,  that  here,  as 
everywhere,  we  propose  to  give  you  the  men  who 'actually  did  the  work, 
not  the  evidence  of  somebody  who  has  heard,  never  having  been  on  the 
route,  that  such  and  such  things  occurred,  but  the  men  who  did  the 
work. 

On  the  route  from  Pueblo  to  Bosita,  Dorsey  swore  that  on  the  then 
present  schedule  it  would  take  three  men  and  twelve  horses  in  one  of  the 
oaths  pr  sented.  In  the  other  oath  he  presented  he  swore  it  would  take 
two  men  and  six  horses.  In  point  of  fact  to  carry  the  mail  alone  we 
shall  show  you  that  it  took  only  one  man  and  three  horses.  When  they 
came  to  increase  to  seven  trips,  Dorsey  swore  that  on  a  ten  hours7  sched- 
ule it  would  take  seven  men  and  thirty-eight  animals  Then  he  changed 
that  to  six  men  and  eighteen  animals.  In  point  of  fact  we  shall  show 
you  that  it  took  two  men  and  fourteen  horses,  making  in  all  sixteen, 
while  Dorsey  said  in  one  oath  forty-five,  and  in  the  other  twenty-four. 

On  the  route  from  Silverton  to  Parrott  City,  No.  38156,  Mr.  Dorsey 
swore  thaton  the  then  schedule  of  seven  trips  it  would  take  three  men  and  - 
ten  horses,  and  that  was  substantially  correct  as  to  the  number  of  men 
and  horses  then  in  use.  But  he  said  to  reduce  it  to  a  fifteen-hour  sched- 
ule it  would  take  six  men  and  thirty  horses,  when  in  point  of  fact  it  took 
only  four  men  and  twelve  horses,  making  sixteen  against  Mr.  Dorsey's 
statement  of  thirty-six — more  than  double,  and  resulting  therefore  in  a 
cost  to  the  Government  of  nearly  three  times  as  much  as  it  ought  to 
have  cost.  There  never  were  used  beyond  the  four  men  and  twelve 
horses  in  point  of  fact,  and  at  times  there  were  used  only  three  men  and 
nine  horses.  Four  men  and  twelve  horses  was  the  outside  limit  with 
bad  roads  and  everything  of  the  kind. 

Mr.  Miner's  oath  on  the  Bismarck  and  Fort  Keogh  line,  in  which  he 
swore  that  150  men  and  150  horses  would  be  required,  I  have  already 
had  occasion  to  comment  upon.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  it  cannot  be 
established  by  any  evidence,  the  most  liberal  allowance  that  can  be 
made,  that  there  were  ever  needed  upon  that  route  for  carrying  the 
mail  over  75  horses,  and  that  there  were  never  needed  for  carrying 
the  mail  over  thirty-five  men  instead  of  150.  I  might  go  on,  gentle- 
men, and  give  you  other  instances  of  the  same  thing,  but  it  is  unneces- 
sary at  present  to  worry  you  with  them,  and  I  pass  on  therefore  to 
another  feature  of  this  case. 

You  will  bear  in  mind,  gentlemen,  that  I  called  your  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  statute,  in  providing  for  the  transportation  of  the  mail,  says 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General  to  have, 
regard  to  productiveness,  that  being  the  only  consideration  actually 
specified.  Now,  what  was  the  regard  that  was  had  for  productiveness 
by  Mr.  Bradyf 

,  n  the  mail  route  from  Garland  to  Parrott  City,  38145,  the  amount 
paid  for  carrying  the  mail  was  brought  up  by  Brady  to  $31,343.76 
a  year,  and  yet  the  average  receipts  of  all  the  offices  upon  that  route 
for  the  three  years  during  which  this  order  of  Brady's  continued  were 
about  $1,200  a  year,  and  excluding  offices  otherwise  supplied  $194.96. 
Under  Mr.  Brady's  order  he  made  the  Government  pay  $31,343  for 
carrying  a  mail,  while  the  post-offices  supplied  by  that  route  pro- 
duced but  $194.96.  And  here  let  me  say,  gentlemen,  that  of  course 
we  do  not  claim  that  each  mail-route  is  to  pay  its  way.  We  only  claim 
this:  that  in  the  language  of  the  statute  "due  regard"  shall  be  "had 


38 

to  productiveness."  We  understand  perfectly  well  that  the  pioneer  in 
tlie  West,  the  miner,  is  entitled  to  his  mail  facilities,  entitled  to  means  of 
communicating  with  his  friends  at  home  and  with  the  business  w^orld 
of  the  East,  and  we  understand  perfectly  well  that  it  is  true  economy 
on  the  part  of  the  Government  to  give  him  those  mail  facilities.  But  we 
say  in  these  allowances  that  Mr.  Brady  made  upon  mere  local  routes,  in 
the  way  that  I  shall  show  you — he  utterly  disregarded  every  consider- 
ation of  productiveness,  and  that  the  only  consideration  of  productive- 
ness that  entered  into  his  mind  was  how  much  the  routes  could  be  made  to 
produce  to  the  contractors  and  to  himself.  The  productiveness  of  a  given 
post-office,  let  me  say,  gentlemen,  is  ascertained  in  this  way:  It  is  the 
amount  of  stamps  canceled  on  mail  matter  sent  from  that  office,  the  theory 
being  that  the  offices  sending  to  a  given  office  are  to  be  credited  with 
what  they  send.  The  office  is  to  be  credited  with  what  it  sends  out,  and 
that  is  treated  fairly  as  the  productiveness  of  the  office.  It  is  of  course 
possible  that  in  sending  from  an  office  there  may  be  less  mail  matter 
going  from  it  than  to  it;  but  in  the  long  run  the  things  must  be  just 
about  equal,  and  that  is  the  only  way  in  which  productiveness  is  ar- 
^rived  at. 

On  the  route  from  Tres  Alamos  to  Clifton  the  original  pay  was  $1,568. 
Mr.  Brady  carried  up  the  amount  to  $27,913.59.  The  net  revenues  on 
that  route,  including  every  office  located  on  the  route,  were  in  the  first 
year  $403.42,  in  the  second  year  $513.41,  and  finally  $789.12,  so  that  on 
that  route,  originally  contracted  for  at  $1,568,  the  average  of  the  re- 
ceipts did  not  exceed  between  $500  and  $600,  and  Mr.  Brady  by 
his  order  made  the  Government  pay  for  carrying  the  mail  over  it 
$27,913.69. 

On  the  route  from  Mineral  Park  to  Pioche  the  original  contract  price 
was  $2,982.  Mr.  Brady  carried  it  up  by  his  orders  at  one  time  to 
$52,033.38.  The  average  revenue  on  that  route  was  $670.68  a  year.  All 
the  offices  on  that  route  were  supplied  by  other  mail  routes,  and  yet  I 
have  credited,  in  making  up  the  $070  to  this  route,  every  dollar  of  the 
revenues  of  all  the  offices  upon  the  route.  The  service  cost  $52,000.  The 
Government  received  $  ;70.  The  year  after  Mr.  Brady  made  his  order 
carrying  it  up,  the  revenues  of  the  office,  instead  of  increasing,  ran  from 
$761  down  to  $597,  so  that  increase  of  speed  reduced  the  revenue  of  the 
Government ;  and  that  was  an  order  of  Mr.  Brady's,  made  under  a  statu  te 
which  required  him  to  have  due  regard  to  productiveness. 

On  the  route  from  Silverlon  to  Parrott  City  the  original  contract 
price  was  $1,488.  Under  Mr.  Brady's  order  it  was  run  to  $15,796,  and 
the  revenue  there  did  get  to  something  in  four  figures.  The  average 
revenue  ot  that  route  was  $2,979.49,  but  it  cost  the  Government  to  get 
that  revenue  about  $15,800. 

On  the  route  from  Trinidad  to  Madison,  38140,  the  original  price  was 
$338.  Mr.  Brady  carried  it  up  by  his  order  to  $4,290,  and  the  average 
revenue  for  the  three  years  of  the  dependent  offices  was  $141.90. 

On  route  38135,  from  Saint  Charles  to  Greenhorn,  which  was  originally 
let  at  $548 ;  under  Mr.  Brady's  order  it  was  carried  up  to  $3,945.60  a 
year.  The  average  income  of  all  the  offices  on  that  route  during  the 
three  years  was  $102.72  a  year. 

On  route  44140,  from  Eugene  City  to  Bridge  Creek,  in  Oregon,  the 
original  contract  was  $2,468.  Mr.  Brady  carried  it  up  to  $21,460.89, 
and  the  average  yearly  income  of  the  route  was  $198.88. 

On  route  41119,  from  Toquerville  to  Adairville,  in  Utah,  the  original 
contract  price  was  $1,168  a  year.  Mr.  Brady  carried  it  up  to  $20,894.22. 
The  annual  income  was  $1,241,  including  all  offices. 


39 

I  think  I  have  given  yon,  gentlemen,  a  sufficient  number  of  specimens 
showing-  how  entirely,  how  absolutely,  Mr.  Brady  disregarded  product- 
iveness^ but  perhaps  I  ought  to  call  your  attention  a  little  in  detail  to 
one  or  two  of  these  routes.  They  will  at  least  present  some  amusing 
feat  tires  which  will  while  away  the  tediousuess  of  your  service. 

On  the  route  from  Mineral  Park  to  Pioche,  less  than  six  months  after 
the  service  commenced,  an  order  was  made  adding  two  trips  to  the 
service  and  reducing  the  time  from  84  hours  to  60  hours,  and  he  added 
to  the  original  compensation  of  $2,982  the  sum  of  $19,318.  On  the  23d 
of  July,  1879,  six  mouths  later,  four  more  trips  were  added,  and  the 
original  compensation  of  $2,982  was  carried  up  by  $29,733.39  more. 
That  route,  gentlemen,  is  a  route  in  Wyoming,  between  the  Central 
Pacific  and  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroads,  and  running  north  and  south 
between  them,  or  was  so.  It  was  urged  that  there  ought  to  be  an  in- 
crease upon  that  route  of  mail  service  because  it  formed  a  connection 
between  the  two  lines,  and  yet  we  shall  put  before  you  the  postmaster 
at  Mineral  Park,  who  opened  every  mail-bag  that  passed  over  that 
route  either  way,  and  he  will  show  to  you  that  that  mail  constantly 
arrived  there  without  a  single  thing  in  the  bag.  There  was  nothing  in 
the  bag — absolutely  no  mail  matter;  no  postal^cards,  no  letters,  no 
newspapers;  nothing  carried  over  that  route,  day  in  and  day  out,  which 
was  run  up  by  Mr.  Brady  in  this  way  from  $2,982  to  $52,000.  The 
Post-Office  Department  introduced  a  system  of  what  was  known  as 
mail  bills,  which  were  intended  to  show  this.  They  were  intended  to 
show  how  many  mail  pouches  started  from  a  given  place,  the  terminus 
of  the  route,  and  then  show  what  time  they  got  to  the  end  of  the  route; 
otherwise  it  was  possible  for  the  post-office  to  be  deceived  in  that  a 
mail-bag  delivered  one  day  might  have  been  the  bag  that  ought  to  have 
been  delivered  on  a  previous  day.  For  the  purpose  of  timing  the  de- 
liveries they  introduced  this  system  of  what  was  called  mail  bills.  The 
mail  hills  were  a  printed  form  sent  to  the  postmaster,  and  they  were 
intended  to  show  simply  the  number  of  pouches,  but  not  intended  to 
show  the  number  of  letters.  To  be  faithful  to  their  duty,  these  post- 
masters went  to  work  and  put  on  those  mail  bills  a  detailed  statement, 
each  day,  of  the  number  of  letters,  postal  cards,  and  newspapers  in  the 
mail,  and  wre  have  those  mail  bills,  and  shall  produce  them  to  you,  for 
some  30  days,  between  the  19th  of  November  and  24th  of  December, 
1879.  YoiTwill  bear  in  mind  that  that  was  after  Mr.  Brady's  expedition 
had  all  been.  made.  In  18  of  the  39  days  the  mail  started  from  Mineral 
Park  to  go  to  Pioche  without  a  letter  or  a  postal  card  in  it.  It  arrived 
at  the  other  end  without  a  letter  or  a  paper  or  a  postal  card.  In  18  of 
the  39  days  therefore  the  mail  went  over  that  entire  route,  starting  with, 
nothing,  picking  up  nothing  on  the  way,  and  arriving  with  nothing, 
and  that  was  a  route  run  up  to  $52,000,  with  due  regard  to  productive- 
ness. In  21  of  those  39  days  there  were  carried  over  some  portion  of 
the  route,  going  north,  9  postal  cards  and  29  letters,  every  one  of  those 
letters  stopping  at  a  way  station  and  no  one  of  them  going  through; 
the  alleged  inducement  for  making  the  increase  being  that  it  was  ft- 
through  route,  connecting  two  railroads.  There  arrived  at  the  other 
end,  Pioche,  during  those  39  days,  133  letters,  papers,  and  postal  cards, 
and  every  one  of  those  started  from  way  stations,  £Io  one  of  them 
came  from  the  terminus  of  the  route. 

On  the  route  from  Kearney  to  Kent,  which  was  a  route  running  north 
and  south  between  two  railroads  which  went  east  and  west,  the  fact  was 
that  the  mail  going  from  Kearney  towards  Kent  was  always  larger  than 
the  mail  going  the  other  way.  it  never  was  over  100  pounds  in  weight, 


40 

* 

and  of  that  100  pounds  all  but  10  pounds  were  delivered  before  it  got 
30  miles  away  from  Kearney,  and  the  remaining  mail  going  over  that 
route  did  not  exceed  on  an  average  10  pounds.  For  the  service  upon 
that  route,  commencing  originally  with  one  trip  at  $808  a  year,  Mr. 
Brady  added  first  two  trips  and  $1, 122.41,  and  then  having  given  the 
three  trips,  he  increased  the  speed  13  hours  and  added  $2,200  for  that. 
And  yet,  excluding  Kearney  and  Kent,  both  of  which  were  on  railroads, 
and  both  of  which  received  their  revenues  and  their  mail  from  the  east 
and  west  communication,  and  not  to  any  extent  from  the  north  and 
south  communication,  the  entire  revenues  averaged  from  $227  to  $513. 
On  the  Toquerville  to  Adairville  route,  in  Utah,  the  mail  started  with 
100  pounds.  Leaving  Toquerville,  it  dwindled  down  to  10  pounds,  tiieu 
sometimes,  at  a  way  station,  went  up  as  high  as  25  pounds,  though  after 
it  got  30  miles  away  from  its  original  starting  point  it  rarely  exceeded 
an  average  of  between  5  and  10  pounds.  And  yet  upon  that  route 
$12,718.22  was  paid  to  reduce  the  time  from  60  to  33  hours,  and  $7,000 
was  paid  to  add  5  trips  to  the  original  one,  which  cost  $1,108 ;  so  that 
that  route  which  originally  started  with  $1,168  was  run  up  to  $19,311, 
and  the  revenues,  deducting  the  offices  which  were  on  other  routes, 
averaged  from  $386  50  in  one  year  to  $767  in  another  year,  and  uniformly 
decreasing  as  expedition  and  the  sums  paid  by  the  Government  increased. 
1  -On  the  route  from  Dalles  to  Baker  City,  in  Oregon,  the  largest  mail  ever 
carried,  which  was  composed  chiefly  of  public  documents,  was  five  or  six 
hundred  pounds.  That  was  carried,  starting  from  Dalles  and  going  east 
towards  Canyon  City.  At  the  outside,  between  Baker  City  and  Canyon 
City,  the  other  half  of  the  route,  the  largest  amount  was  200  pounds, 
the  smallest  30  to  40  pounds,  and  the  average  certainly  not  over  50 
pounds.  One  witness  will  state  the  average,  1  think,  as  not  being  over 
20  pounds.  And  yet  on  that  route  from  Dalles  to  Baker  City,  which 
started  at  a  compensation  of  $8,288,  it  was  run  up  to  $72,520,  and  it 
was  not  only  not  a  through  route,  but  it  was  so  slow  a  route  that  mat- 
ter starting  from  the  east  end  of  the  route  and  intended  to  go  to  the 
west  end  of  the  route  was  never  sent  over  the  route,  but  was  sent  by  a 
longer  and  quicker  route ;  and  in  the  same  way,  matter  starting  from 
the  west  end  of  the  line,  and  intended  to  go  to  the  east  end,  was  never 
sent  over  it,  but  sent  around  this  way  [illustrating].  And  not  only  that, 
gentlemen,  but  the  two  stations  east  and  west  from  the  terminal  sta- 
tions— that  is  to  say,  the  station  which  was  about  12  or  15  miles  west  of 
the  eastern  end,  and  the  station  which  was  about  10  or  12  miles  east  of 
the  western  end — sent  their  mail  matter  east  and  west,  roundabout, 
around  by  the  other  way  in  preference  to  going  over  this  route,  be- 
cause it  went  more  rapidly.  And  yet  that  route,  so  thoroughly  local 
and  so  thoroughly  without  any  necessity  for  any  such  rate  of  speed 
or  compensation,  was  carried  up  by  Brady  to  $72,520. 

On  the  route  fiom  Pueblo  to  Kosita,  which  was  down  in  Colorado,  the 
contract  price  starting  originally  at  $338  was  run  up  to  $8,148.  The 
mail  matter  that  went  from  Pueblo,  about  half  way,  weighed  from  40 
to  60  pounds,  and,  in  the  language  of  the  witness  in  reply  to  a  question, 
"beyond  that  the  mail  was  light."  He  seemed  to  think  that  a  mail  that 
weighed  from  40  to  60  pounds  was  a  heavy  one.  The  through  mail  did 
not  consist  usually  of  more  than  three  or  four  letters,  because  theteiini- 
nal  points  were  getting  their  mails  by  other  routes  more  satisfactorily, 
and  the  only  considerable  intermediate  place  had  another  communica- 
tion also,  by  which  it  got  a  considerable  portion  of  its  mail  matter. 
The  entire  revenues  of  offices  dependent  on  that  route  were  $2,179;  but 


41 

after  Mr.  Brady  had  put  on  these  large  increases  the  revenues  ran  down 
to  $1,57^ 

On  the  route  from  Trinidad  to  Madison  the  original  pay  was  $338. 
It  was  run  up  to  $4,290.30,  and  in  the  letter  of  John  W.  Dorsey  asking 
for  expedition,  he  states  to  Mr.  Brady,  and  Mr.  Brady  accepted  it  as 
true,  though  his  own  record  showed  him  it  was  not  true,  that  the 
mails  were  heavy,  and  that  heavy  mail  was  an  average  of  20  pounds, 
and  that  20  pounds  was  sufficient  to  take  in  the  way  of  expedition, 
through  Brady's  kindness,  $2,758  a  year  out  of  the  Treasury. 

On  the  route  from  Rawlins  to  White  Eiver,  out  in  Wyoming,  almost 
precisely  the  same  condition  of  tilings  existed.  I  will  not  go  over  those 
in  detail.  The  same  is  true  of  other  routes,  Vermillion  to  Sioux  Falls, 
Canyon  City  to  Fort  McDermitt,  and  others  which  I  'have  here  on  my 
memorandum,  but  I  forbear  to  trouble  you  with  them. 

Now,  gentlemen,  there  was  another  condition  of  things.  Mr.  Brady 
made  orders  for  expedition  and  paid  large  sums  for  expedition  where 
he  got  nothing  for  it  and  where  his  own  record  should  have  shown  him 
that  he  got  nothing  for  it.  On  a  route  in  California,  from  Redding  to 
Alturas,  the  original  contract  price  was  $5,988;  Brady  ran  it  up  to 
$41,916.66.  Let  me  say  in  passing  here  that  I  sometimes  say  Brady  ran 
a  thing  up.  You  will  find  occasionally  that  the  formal  order  is 
actually  signed  by  Brady's  chief  clerk;  but  I  hold  Brady  responsible 
for  all  of  these  increases,  and  I  think  that  I  shall  be  able  to  show  you 
that  I  properly  do  so.  Now,  he  ran  that  up  to  $41,916.66.  He  did  it  in  this 
way:  Within  five  months  after  the  contract  went  into  effect  he  added 
two  trips  and  reduced  the  schedule  time  from  108  hours  to  72  hours, 
and  added  to  the  existing  pay  of  $8,982  the  sum  of  $29,940.60,  making  a 
total  of  $38,922,  of  which  sum  $17,964  was  paid  for  the  alleged  increase 
of  speed.  The  nominal  result  of  the  order  in  that  case,  looking  at  it  on 
the  paper,  was  to  increase  the  speed  from  1.65  to  2.58  miles  an  hour. 
And  yet,  gentlemen,  it  is  an  indisputable  fact  that  that  mail,  when  Brady 
made  his  order  to  pay  $17,964  for  reducing  the  time  to  72  hours,  was  in 
point  of  fact  being  carried  over  that  route  in  somewhere  about  40  hours. 
The  Government  was  paying  $8,000  and  the  mail  was  being  carried  in 
from  41  to  44  hours  in  summer  and  65  hours  in  winter.  The  Government 
was  paying  $8,000  for  getting  its  mail  carried  in  that  way.  The  nom- 
inal time  was  120  hours.  But  Mr.  Brady  stepped  in,  and  with  the 
liberality  that  he  exercised  with  other  people's  money,  he  paid  $17,964 
under  the  pretense  that  it  was  for  getting  the  mails  carried  in  80 
houis,  when,  in  fact,  they  vere  already  being  carried  in  from  40  to 
44  hours  in  sum mer  and  65  hours  in  winter.  The  parties  themselves  were 
not  carrying  the  mall  at  that  time,  and  they  had  a  sub-contract  with 
people  owning  a  line  of  stages,  and  those  people,  from  their  interest  in 
carrying  passengers  and  carrying  express  matter,  were  required  to  go 
over  that  route  in  from  41  to  44  hours,  and  they  had  to  take  the  mail 
at  that  rate.  But  Mr.  Brady  stepped  in  and  with  great  liberality  paid 
seventeen  thousand  and  odd  hundred  dollars,  when  they  were  entirely 
satisfied  with  their  $8,000  for  that.  I  am  speaking  of  the  sub  contract- 
ors. I  shall  have  occasion  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  of 
this  seventeen  thousand  and  odd  hundred  dollars  which  Mr.  Brady  was 
paying  for  getting  the  mails  in  thirty-odd  hours  longer  than  that  they 
wi-Te  being  carried  in,  the  larger  portion  went  into  the  pockets  of  the 
parties  here  in  Washington  who  got  the  expedition,  and  only  an  incon- 
siderable portion  into  the  hands  of  the  men  who  were  actually  carrying 
the  mail.  Brady  at  a  later  day  added  $5,988  more. 

There  were  other  cases  where  the  mail  was  expedited,  and  large 


42 

sums  paid  for  it,  only  to  have  it  arrive  at  its  terminus  where  it  was  to 
connect  with  another  route,  just  too  late  to  go  out,  and  where  all  the 
time  of  expedition  was  lost  by  lying  over  Avaiting  for  another  and  con- 
necting route,  where  really,  in  point  of  fact,  nothing  was  gained  save 
what  might  have  been  gained  at  the  little  local  post-offices  along  the 
route.  Nothing  was  gained  in  any  manner  practically.  There  are  a 
series  of  those  cases.  I  will  not  stop  to  call  your  attention  to  them  in 
detail  now.  You  will  be  presented  with  the  evidence  as  to  them  as  it 
comes  along. 

There  are  other  cases,  gentlemen,  where  Mr.  Brady  made  orders  re- 
quiring the  mail  to  be  carried  in  an  impossible  time — a  time  that  the 
postmasters,  the  contractors,  and  everybody  on  the  route  represented 
to  him  it  was  impossible  to  carry  it  in — and  Mr.  Brady,  in  spite  of  remon- 
strances, insisted  upon  that  being  the  schedule  time.  He  sent  to  the  post- 
masters directions  to  make  a  schedule  of  departures  and  arrivals  which 
should  come  within  the  time  he  fixed,  and  they  kept  sending  them  back, 
putting  the  schedule  days  longer  than  he  fixed,  and  telling  him  it  was 
impossible  to  do  it  in  the  time  he  said.  He  repeated  right  over  that  it 
must  be  done  in  that  time;  and,  finally,  one  witness  said  he  got  so  dis- 
gusted with  Mr.  Brady's  sending  him  schedules  to  fix  it  within  impossible 
time,  that  when  he  used  to  get  these  schedules,  postmaster  as  he  was, 
and  disrespectful  as  the  conduct  was,  "  I  took  the  thing  and  threw  it 
into  the  waste-paper  basket,  and  paid  no  attention  to  it."  The  result  was 
that  the  mail  could  not  be  carried  in  time.  It  then  became  necessary 
to  impose  fines  for  not  carrying  the  mail  in  time,  and  to  a  considerable 
extent  fines  were  imposed ;  but  the  result  was  that  the  unfortunate 
sub -con  tract  or  who  had  made  a  sub-contract  with  Mr.  Dorsey  to  carry  the 
mail  had  to  pay  all  the  fines  and  Mr.  Dorsey  sat  here  in  Washington 
and  received  his  money  net,  the  result  being  that  in' one  or  two  quarters 
the  unfortunate  contractor  had  to  pay  the  United  States  practically 
something  for  the  pleasure  of  carrying  the  mail,  while  Mr.  Dorsey  sat 
here  in  Washington  and  got  several  thousand  dollars  put  into  his 
pocket.  I  have  mentioned  one  route,  that  is,  a  route  in  New  Mexico. 
There  is  a  route  in  Oregon  where  substantially  the  same  thing  was  done  ; 
and  as  to  that  route  Mr.  Brady  did  wake  up  to  the  fact  that  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  carry  the  mail  on  the  time  he  fixed,  certainly  in  winter,  and  therefore 
he  made  a  movable  schedule,  which  he  said  was  the  same.  In  the  first 
place,  he  paid  a  large  sum  for  reducing  the  time  for  carrying  the  mail 
from  sixty  hours  to  forty  hours.  In  the  winter  it  was  utterly  impossible  to 
carry  it  on  that  time.  In  the  summer  it  might  possibly  have  been  carried. 
So  he  made  an  amendment  of  his  order,  and  provided  that  in  winter 
it  should  be  fifty  hours  and  in  summer  it  should  be  thirty  hours.  He 
said  that  made  an  average  of  forty  hours,  and  therefore  he  would  pay 
the  same  amount  as  he  paid  before,  and  he  assumed  that  it  was  the 
same  thing  to  the  people  out  there  if  they  got  their  mail  matter  in 
the  summer  in  thirty  hours  instead  of  forty,  und  in  the  winter  in  fifty 
hours  instead  of  forty. 

There  is  a  single  instance,  possibly  two  instances,  of  another  class  of 
frauds  upon  the  Government  under  Mr.  Brady's  action.  There  were 
two  routes  in  Colorado  as  originally  established,  one  coming  from  here 
[indicating  on  map]  and  running  up  to-  Lake  City  and  then  crossing- 
over  to  Ouray.  There  was  another  which  started  from  Lake  City,  went 
up  to  Barnum,  and  out  to  Los  Pjnos  [indicating  on  map].  The 
route  across  the  mountain  was  altered  by  an  order  so  as  to  go  around 
the  mountain  instead  of  across  it.  It  probably  was  a  wise  order  to 
make  j  but  you  will  see  that  Mr.  Brady  was  paying  for  carrying  the 


43 

mail  over  that  route  before.  That  route  was  a  six-times-a-week  route. 
He  transferred  the  other  route  over  precisely  the  same  track,  the  mail 
matter  on  both  being  carried  by  the  same  man,  in  the  same  wagon,  or 
on  the  same  horses.  The  postmasters  along  the  route  assumed  that 
there  was  but  one  route  there,  and  that,  of  course,  the  other  had  been 
discontinued,  and  therefore  they  only  made  returns  on  one  route.  Mr. 
Brady  sent  to  them  with  some  indignation  to  know  why  they  did  not 
make  returns  upon  the  other  route.  One  of  them  sat  down  and  wrote 
Mr.  Brady  a  long  and  detailed  statement,  showing  that  the  mails  on 
the  alleged  two  routes,  which  were  identical  in  every  way,  were  carried 
by  the  same  man,  upon  the  same  horses,  or  with  the  same  wagon,  as  the 
case  might  be,  and  that  he  could  not  believe  it  was  possible  that  the 
department  was  going  to  do  so  absurd  a  thing  as  to  pay  a  man  twice 
over  for  doing  one  service.  Those  letters  remained  on  the  files,  no  at- 
tention being  paid  to  them  for  months  and  years;  the  double  payment 
continuing,  until  finally  the  scandal  became  so  great  that  it  was  neces- 
sary to  revoke  the  order  and  make  only  the  single  payment. 

There  were  a  large  number  of  other  orders,  petty  in  their  character, 
and  yet  significant  as  showing  the  spirit  which  prevailed  in  the  Post- 
Office  Department  during  the  time  that  Mr.  Brady  was  Second  Assistant 
Postmaster  General.  For  instance,  we  find  this  condition  of  things: 
On  the  route  from  Verm illion  to  Sioux  Falls,  after  there  had  been  the  con- 
tract made  and  everything  of  that  sort,  there  came  an  order  to  add 
Brighton  to  the  route  and  to  give  the  contractor  an  additional  sum  for 
supplying  it.  It  was  a  small  sum  originally,  but  applying  the  geomet- 
rical proportion  resulting  from  expedition,  it  became  at  one  time  a  con- 
siderable sum.  But  no  matter  about  the  size  of  the  sum;  the  point  is 
that  the  mail  always  went  directly  through  Brighton,  and  it  was  no 
addition  to  the  route  to  supply  Brighton ;  yet  they  considered  it  an  ad- 
dition, and  Brady  directed  that  payment  should  be  made  for  it.  A  little 
further  on  the  post-office  of  Kidder  was  moved.  The  moving  of  that 
post-office  reduced  the  route  three  miles.  There  never  was  any  reduc- 
tion for  the  saving  thus  made.  If  there  was  an  alleged  increase  of  two 
miles  in  the  one  case  it  was  paid  for;  if  there  was  an  actual  decrease 
of  three  miles  in  the  other  case  it  was  not  deducted. 

On  the  route  from  Trinidad  to  Madison  we  find  this  condition  of 
things :  The  route,  as  originally  established,  started  from  Madison  and 
went  here  [indicating  on  the  map],  and  then  over  to  Trinidad,  which  is 
here  [indicating].  Certain  parties  living  up  at  Eaton  petitioned  to  have 
mail  service  given  them  from  that  route  [indicating],  a  distance  of  about 
seven  miles.  Instead  of  making  the  order,  Mr.  Brady  made  an  order 
that  this  route  should  be  wrenched  around  and  Eaton  supplied  from  it, 
making  the  additional  distance  about  twenty- three  miles,  and  he  paid 
for  twenty  three  miles  of  service  instead  of  paying  for  seven  miles.  He 
supplied  the  people  less  directly  and  less  to  their  satisfaction,  and  by 
twisting  the  route  around  in  that  way  he  made  it  so  long  that  at  the 
existing  rate  of  speed  the  mail  did  not  get  through  in  a  day.  So  he 
had  a  good  excuse  for  issuing  an  order  for  expedition  and  increasing  the 
speed,  and  the  result  was  that  there  was  an  allowance  of  two  or  three 
thousand  dollars,  and  perhaps  more,  simply  to  get  the  mail  through  in 
the  day  time,  when,  if  he  had  complied  with  the  request  of  the  peti- 
tioners and  supplied  that  post-office  from  the  other  route,  it  would  have 
gone  through  in  the  day  time  and  the  money  would  have  been  saved 
and  the  people  better  satisfied.  In  point  of  tact,  when  Mr.  Brady  went 
out,  that  service  at  Eaton,  which  cost  under  him  something  over  three 


44 

thousand  dollars,  was  contracted  for  from  the  other  route  at  something 
like  two  hundred  and  eighty  dollars  a  year. 

There  was  another  case,  in  which  a  post-office  called  "  Agate  "  was 
added  to  a  route  by  a  spur  on  it.  They  could  not  get  the  mail  carried 
for  the  amount  which  the  law  authorized  to  be  paid  for  carrying  that 
distance,  and  there  never  was  a  single  mail  carried  over  that  route. 
Mr.  Brady's  attention  was  called  to  the  fact  that  there  never  was  any 
mail  carried  over  the  route,  th%t  they  could  not  get  it  there  by  any  pos- 
sibility; and  yet,  under  a  perversion  of  a  provision  in  the  law  which 
requires  that  when  you  discontinue  service  you  shall  allow  the  con- 
tractor a  month's  pay  for  the  discontinue  service  on  the  ground  that 
you  have  thereby  inflicted  some  injury  upon  him,  Mr.  Brady  first  or- 
dered the  service  on,  and  left  it  on  a  couple  of  months,  paying  for  the 
service,  though  there  was  none,  and  though  the  contractor  never  went 
over  the  route  one  trip.  He  then  ordered  it  discontinued  on  the  repre- 
sentations of  the  postmaster  that  there  was  no  mail,  and  paid  the  con- 
tractor the  month's  extra  pay  for  the  injury  that  had  been  inflicted 
upon  him  by  discontinuing  a  service  which  he  never  had  performed. 

There  is  another  case  on  the  route  from  JSilverton  to  Parrott  City. 
Animas  City  was  alleged  to  be  added  to  the  route,  and  to  extend  the 
route  some  ten  or  twelve  miles,  and  for  that  a  very  considerable  sum 
was  allowed  to  the  contractor.  It  was  a  considerable  sum  originally, 
and  was  increased  by  expedition  considerably  more.  Yet,  in  point  of 
fact,  the  mail  was  all  the  time  carried  through  Animas  City,  and  the 
postmasters  had  notified  Mr.  Brady  constantly  that  the  mail  came 
through  Animas  City.  The  official  records  of  the  department  show  that 
the  mail  passed  from  point  to  point — naming  them — and  one  of  those 
points  was  Atrimas  City.  Yet  Mr.  Brady,  under  some  pretense,  claimed 
that  to  include  Animas  City  added  ten  or  twelve  miles,  and  on  that  ac- 
count allowed  a  very  considerable  sum  out  of  the  Treasury. 

There  is  another  case  on  the  route  from  Toquerville  to  Adairville, 
in  Utah,  where  we  have  this  extraordinary  condition  of  things:  The 
terminal  post-office  at  Adairville  was  discontinued  by  the  Post-Office 
Department,  say,  in  August,  and  Mr.  Brady  was  notified  of  that  fact. 
That  took  off  ten  miles  at  one  end  of  the  route,  and  the  mail  after  that 
time  stopped  at  Pahreah.  Now,  what  did  Mr.  Brady  do  ?  He  wanted 
to  expedite  the  speed  upon  that  route,  and  to  allow  the  contractor  a 
very  considerable  sum  for  doing  it.  Therefore,  he  made  an  order  expe- 
diting the  service  over  the  entire  route,  including  the  ten  miles  which 
was  practically  discontinued  because  the  post-office  was  abolished,  and 
of  which  he  had  notice.  He  directed  that  the  order  expediting  the  serv- 
ice take  effect  over  the  entire  route,  and  paid  for  the  expedited  service. 
This  order  was,  say,  of  the  1st  of  September.  Then,  four  days  after- 
ward, he  made  an  order  cutting  off  the  service  from  Pahreah  to  Adair- 
ville, which  had,  in  point  of  fact,  been  cut  off  weeks  before,  as  the 
records  of  his  own  department  showed  him.  Then  he  allowed  the  con- 
tractor a  month's  extra  pay,  but  reckoned  it  upon  the  increased  allow- 
ance caused  by  the  expedition,  and  not  upon  the  original  pay.  If  he 
had  cut  off  that  end  of  the  route  and  allowed  the  month's  extra  pay 
before  he  made  the  expedition,  he  would  have  paid  the  contractor  for 
the  month's  extra  pay  but  one  or  two  hundred  dollars.  He  waited  until 
he  had  made  the  expedition,  though  he  had  the  evidence  in  his  office 
that  the  route  was  to  be  shortened,  and  then  allowed  the  month's 
extra  pay,  and  the  result  was  to  carry  the  amount  which  was  allowed 
the  contractor  as  a  bonus  up  to  a  thousand  dollars,  as  I  recollect  it. 
There  was  in  all  these  things,  gentlemen,  an  utter  disregard  of  the 


45 

interests  of  the  Government.  There  never  was  a  time,  so  far  as  I  can. 
see,  and  I  think  we  shall  satisfy  you,  when  the  interests  of  the  govern- 
ment were  considered  under  Mr.  Brady  when  they  came  in  conflict  with 
the  interest  of  these  contractors.  In  that  case  every  construction  was 
given  against  the  Government  and  every  opportunity  embraced  to  take 
money  out  of  the  Treasury  for  the  benefit  of  these  defendants. 

There  is  another  class  of  cases:  The  contractors,  as  I  have  said  to 
you,  bid  very  low;  on  many  routes  they  bid  so  low  that  they  could  not 
afford  to  perform  the  service.  So  low,  as  I  shall  have  occasion  to  show 
you,  that  they  had  to  make  contracts  with  others  to  carry  the  mail, 
and  to  pay  more  than  they  were  getting  from  the  government.  Hav- 
ing made  those  contracts,  they  were  bound  to  commence  service  on 
the  1st  of  July,  1878.  If  they  did  not  commence  service  on  a  route 
they  were  liable  to  be  declared  failing  contractors.  A  man  who  becomes 
a  failing  contractor  upon  one  route  is,  under  the  law  and  practice  of  the 
department,  a  failing  contractor  upon  all  routes,  and  all  the  money  due 
him  upon  any  route  or  that  may  become  due  him  on  any  route  is  taken 
to  supply  the  deficiency,  and  he  is  debarred  from  any  service  under  the 
department.  Now,  several  of  the  routes  upon  which  they  bid  so  low 
they  did  not  start  on  the  1st  of  July,  nor  for  a  long  time  afterward. 
There  were  all  sorts  of  excuses.  There  were,  to  keep  the  records 
straight,  threats  from  Brady  that  he  would  declare  them  failing  con- 
tractors if  they  did  not  $tart  it.  In  point  of  fact,  we  shall  show  to  you, 
to  your  satisfaction,  that  Mr.  Brady  stood  by  and  let  these  contractors 
fail  to  perform  the  service,  while  they  were  getting  up  petitions  and  all 
the  paraphernalia  needed  to  apparently  justify  Mr.  Brady  in  making 
orders  for  expedition  by  which  he  could  run  up  and  transform  a  losing 
contract  into  a  contract  largely  profitable;  and  yet  in  the  mean  time 
they  did  not  perform  the  service,  because  it  would  have  been  a  losing 
service.  In  those  cases  you  will  bear  in  mind  also,  when  it  comes  to  the 
affidavits  for  expedition,  that  inasmuch  as  the  contractor  had  not  done 
a  minute's  service  on  the  route,  his  affidavit  in  which  he  swears  to  the 
number  of  men  and  horses  then  being  used,  is  necessarily  a  false  affi- 
davit, because  there  was  no  number  then  being  used,  and  Mr.  Brady 
knew  from  the  records  of  the  department  that  there  were  none  being 
used. 

Now,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  I  will  pass  all  this  class  of  frauds,  and 
direct  your  attention  to  some  other  kinds  of  misconduct  which  prevailed 
in  connection  with  this  mail  service.  I  wish  to  avoid  repetition  as 
much  as  possible,  but  I  must  do  a  good  deal  of  it.  To  seemingly  jus- 
tify Mr.  Brady  in  doing  this  sort  of  thing  there  had  to  be  some- 
thing as  a  pretense  and  as  an  excuse  for  it.  What  was  the  excuse,  gen- 
tlemen? Petitions!  petitions  from  alleged  people  living  along  the 
routes;  petitions  gotten  up  by  the  contractors;  petitions  known  by 
Brady  to  be  so  gotten  up ;  petitions  transmitted  in  some  cases  by  Dor- 
sey, the  United  States  Senator.  He  was  not  interested  on  the  record 
in  the  matter,  but  sent  a  man  out  himself,  with  his  own  letters,  to  get 
up  petitions  and  everything  of  that  kind.  The  work  was  done,  the  pe- 
titions were  obtained,  and  they  were  sent  to  Stephen  W.  Dorsey,  the 
United  States  Senator,  and  Mr.  Stephen  W.  Dorsey,  this  disinterested 
man,  forwarded  them  to  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster  General,  with 
a  letter  on  United  States  Senate  paper,  as  a  disinterested  man  looking 
after  the  interests  of  some  people  who  were  not  even  his  constituents, 
and  saying  that  these  were  petitions  which  had  come  into  his  hands 
and  which  seemed  to  make  a  strong  case  for  expedition,  and  he  hoped 
it  would  be  granted.  Now,  as  to  these  petitions,  of  course  we  recog- 


46 

nize  two  things :  the  first  is  that  everybody  has  a  right  to  petition,  and 
the  next  is  that  almost  everybody  will  sign  any  petition  that  is  thrust 
in  their  face.  Certainly  everybody  along  any  mail  route  will  sign  any 
petition  which  looks  to  the  idea  of  an  increase  of  mail  service,  provided 
it  is  not  to  be  done  at  their  expense,  but  at  the  expense  of  somebody 
else.  We  would  all  of  us  like  mail  service  if  we  happened  not  to  live 
in  a  city.  We  would  like  to  have  the  mail  come  by  our  door  at  least 
two  or  three  times  a  day,  and  would  deem  ourselves  perfectly  justified 
in  honestly  signing  a  petition  urging  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster- 
General  to  make  arrangements  of  that  kind.  We  understand  perfectly 
well  that  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General,  when  one  of  those 
petitions  comes  to  him,  if  he  is  an  honest  and  efficient  officer,  will  say: 
"This  seems  to  me  to  represent  the  wishes  of  the  people  along  the 
route.  They  state  what  they  want  entirely  without  regard  to  the  claims 
of  other  localities  upon  the  money  which  Congress  has  appropriated. 
Their  statement  is  made  without  regard  to  the  question  as  to  who  is  to  pay 
the  expense.  They  are  frequently,  almost  always,  without  any  knowledge 
of  what  the  increased  expense  will  be.  Now  I,  as  an  honest  Second  As- 
sistant Postmaster-General,  will  look  the  field  over.  I  have  these  peti- 
tions, which  I  assume  tobe  genuine" — Lshall  show  you  directly  that  hehad 
no  business  to  assume  that — "and  to  represent  the  wishes  of  the  people. 
Now  ought  they  to  be  granted?  What  is  the  productiveness  of  this 
route?  What  is  its  character?  Through  what  part  of  the  country 
does  it  run  ?  What  is  the  population  there?  'What  justification  have 
I  for  taxing  the  people  of  the  East  to  give  daily  mail  service  at  a  high 
rate  of  speed  along  a  route  in  a  Western  Territory  where  twenty-one  days 
out  of  thirty-nine  there  does  not  pass  a  letter  over  the  route  ?"  I  shall 
show  you  snch  a  case  as  this,  gentlemen,  and  yet  there  were  petitions 
in  favor  of  expedition  on  that  route.  His  duty,  we  submit  to  you,  as  an 
honest  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General,  in  view  of  these  petitions, 
was  to  look  the  field  over  and  to  decide  what  ought  fairly  and  properly 
to  be  done.  He  ought  to  have  said  with  regard  to  the  case  I  last  men- 
tioned, "This  I  cannot  do;  it  is  absurd  to  pay  $20,000  or  $30,000  for 
increase  of  either  trips  or  speed  when  there  is  no  mail  matter  going 
over  the  route  ;  I  cannot  do  it,  it  makes  no  difference  who  comes  to  me 
urging  it."  It  will  be  contended,  and  it  is  undoubtedly  a  fact,  that 
members  of  Congress  and  Senators  signed  papers  urging  an  increase. 
They  wrere  representing  their  locality.  They  were  representing  the 
interests  of  their  constituents.  But  we  shall  show  to  you  that  at  least 
one  United  States  Senator  urging  such  increase  was  the  paid  agent  of 
these  defendants. 

Mr.  HENKLE.  Who  was  that? 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  will  show  you  if  you  dare  to  put  him  on  the  stand. 

[Mr.  Chandler  made  a  remark  in  an  undertone  which  was  inaudible 
to  the  reporter.] 
.    Mr.  BLISS.  [To  Mr.  Chandler.]  What  do  you  say  ? 

Mr.  HENKLE.  He  says  you  should  give  his  name. 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  have  not  given  the  names  of  any  witnesses  so  far,  and 
I  do  not  propose  to  pick  him  out  and  give  his  name.  He  will  get  noto- 
riety enough  when  he  comes,  if  he  comes.  I  simply  say  we  propose  to 
show  it.  But  I  will  further  say  that  I  do  not  believe  he  will  come. 

Mr.  CHANDLER.  Was  he  here  before  ? 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  will  not  specify  him.  Senators  would  come  and  Mem- 
bers would  come,  or  they  would  sign  petitions  or  do  something  of  that 
sort,  and  Mr.  Brady 

Mr.  CHANDLER.  [Interposing.]  If  your  honor  please,  I  wish  to  ask 


47 

•whether  it  is  proper  for  Mr.  Bliss  to  go  on  and  argue  the  case  now. 
We  have  listened  here  for  at  least  twenty  minutes  to  an  argument  pure 
and' simple  as  distinct  from  a  statement  of  the  facts  which  he  proposes 
to  prove. 

Mr.  BLISS.  Not  at  all. 

The  COURT.  1  understand  this  to  bean  anticipatory  statement  of  the 
facts. 

Mr.  CHANDLER.  No,  your  honor;  it  is  an  argument  as  to  what  is  the 
duty  of  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General.  It  is  not  a  state- 
ment of  what  Mr.  Bliss  is  going  to  prove,  but  it  is  a  statement  of  what 
he  would  do  and  how  he  would  manage  were  he  himself  in  this  high 
office — it  it  should  ever  be  his  fortune  to  reach  it. 

Mr.  BLISS.  Misfortune. 

Mr.  CHAKDLI  R.  I  do  not  think  it  is  proper  for  him  so  to  proceed. 
He  is  not  upon  facts. 

The  COURT.  He  is  applying  the  facts  which  he  expects  to  prove. 

Mr.  BLISS.  [Resuming.]  Then  again  on  the  other  side,  gentlemen,  as 
to  petitions,  we  shall  claim  to  you  that  while  these  defendants  had  a 
perfect  right  to  get  up  petitions  they  had  not  a  right  to  resort  to  decep- 
tion of  Government  officers  in  getting  them  up.  They  had  not  a  right 
to  direct  petitions  to  be  gotten  up  by  one  man  but  not  to  be  in  the  same 
form,  because  that  tact  might  show  that  it  was  a  mere  bogus  piece  of 
business.  They  had  not  the  right  to  do  that.  They  had  a  perfect  right 
to  represent  the  case  to  the  Postmaster  General  and  to  seek  to  get 
from  him  increase  or  expedition,  iopking  out  for  their  own  interests  as 
we  all  do.  But  they  had  not  the  right,  unless  they  wanted  to  get  them- 
selves into  trouble,  to  go  into  a  system  of  deception  in  .connection  with 
these  petitions.  They  had  not  the  right  to  alter  petitions  or  to  present 
petitions  with  forged  or  altered  names.  Now  let  me  tell  you,  as  to  the 
petitions,  that  we  shall  present  to  you  a  witness  who  will  tell  you  of  Mr. 
Brady's  declaration  that  they  were  a  mere  sham  and  pretense,  intended 
to  cover  and  protect  him,  and 'that  was  all  there  was  in  them.  Take 
for  instance  the  route  from  Kearney  to  Kent.  On  that  route  we  have 
this  remarkable  condition  of  affairs:  The  people  desired  an  increase  of 
trips.  They  did  not  care  for  an  increase  of  speed.  A  petition  was  sent 
from  here  by  one  of  these  defendants,  Miner,  I  think,  for  circulation 
to  parties  on  the  route,  asking  for  an  increase  of  trips.  The  petition 
was  circulated  a  little,  and  then  by  a  careless  accident  an  inkstand  was 
upset  njjon  it  which  blotted  it  so  badly  that  the  party  to  whom  it  was 
sent  would  not  return  it.  So  he  himself  wrote,  or  got  a  friend  to  write, 
another  petition,  which  was  a  precise  copy  of  the  first.  That  petition 
contained  no  word  about  an  increase  of  speed.  It  contained  only  a 
request  for  an  increase  of  trips.  It  was  generally  signed  and  sent  here 
and  there  was  obtained  upon  it  the  indorsement  of  a  United  States 
Senator.  The  petition  was  tiled  in  the  Post  Office  Department,  but  be- 
fore it  was  filed  there  was  inserted  in  it  in  an  entirely  different  handwrit- 
ing, at  the  end  of  a  paragraph  where  there  was  a  blank  space  on  the  line, 
the  words,  "Ami  thirteen  hours,"  so  as  to  make  it  a  petition  not  only  for 
an  increase  of  trips,  but  for  an  increase  of  speed;  yet  that  alteration 
would  almost  stare  a  blind  man  in  the  face,  and  was  obvious  to  every- 
body. There  was  not  another  paper  on  iile  in  the  department  which 
said  anything  about  increase  of  speed  except  the  affidavit  of  one  of 
these  defendants  in  favor  of  it  and  stating  the,  number  of  men  and 
horses.  There  was  not  a  paper  of  any  kind  with  reference  to  increase 
of  speed  in  the  department  except  the  affidavit  and  this  altered  petition 
taken  by  Mr.  Brady  as  his  sole  authority  for  ordering  an  increase  of 


48 

speed,  which  took  from  the  Treasury  a  large  number  of  thousand  dollars. 
We  shall  place  before  you  the  man  to  whom  that  petition  was  sent,  the 
man  who  wrote  the  petition  to  take  the  place  of  the  blotted  paper,  the 
man  who  returned  it  here.  We  will  place  before  you  some  of  the  people 
who  signed  it.  All  will  say  to  you  that  there  never  was  on  that  peti- 
tion, up  to  the  time  it  was  sent  here  to  one  of  these  defendants,  a  sug- 
gestion of  any  increase  of  speed — that  the  words  were  added  here  by  one 
of  these  defendants.  I  think  we  shall  be  able  to  show  you  who  added 
them.  We  shall  be  uncharitable  enough,  gentlemen,  in  that  connection 
to  ask  you  to  believe  that  if  the  petition  originally  sent  West  had  not 
been  so  destroyed  by  being  blotted,  but  had  come  back  here,  the  words 
"And  thirteen  hours,"  if  added,  would  have  been  added  in  the  hand- 
writing of  the  petition  and  the  ear-marks  of  the  fraud  would  not  be  so 
obvious. 

There  are  other  routes  upon  which  the  same  sort  of  business  was 
done.  There  are  petitions  where  the  words  u faster  time"  are  inter- 
lined and  various  things  of  that  sort  more  or  less  obvious  upon  them, 
all  either  over  erasures  or  in  different  and  easily  distinguishable  hand- 
writing. In  one  case  we  shall  show  you  this:  There  were  two  routes, 
one  from  Mineral  Park  to  Pioche,  the  route  over  which  there. were  no 
letters  passing,  as  I  have  already  told  you,  and  the  other  from  Min- 
eral Park  to  Ehrenberg.  Both  routes  terminated  at  Mineral  Park. 
Mr.  Brady  ordered  expedition  on  both  of  those  routes,  and  lie  ordered 
it  upon  petitions  which  bear  on  their  face  the  evidence  that  they  were 
not  prepared  for  use  as  applicable  to  those  routes.  The  terminus  of 
the  route  and  the  territory  in  which  it  is  situated  are  altered  on  each  of 
those  petitions  and  the  signatures  to  the  petitions  are  the  same.  The 
petitioners  state  that  they  get  mail  matter  along  that  route.  The  names 
are  identical.  And  yet  the  fifty  or  sixty  names  I  believe  you  will  be 
satisfied  from  inspection  were  all  written  by  not  exceeding  six  or  seven 
persons.  The  same  names  are  on  both  petitions,  both  petitions  are 
altered,  and  both  petitions  are  so  altered  that  the  most  casual  examina- 
tion will  indicate  that  they  could  not  have  been  intended  to  apply  to 
the  route  to  which  they  are  made  to  apply.  Mr.  Brady  used  both  of 
those  petitions  as  his  basis  for  making  orders  which  took  from  the 
Treasury  large  sums  of  money  for  expedition.  And  that,  gentlemen, 
ought  to  dispose  of  the  subject  of  petitions.  Why,  there  is  not  "cover" 
enough  in  them  to  protect  Brady  in  an  indictment  for  indecent  exposure. 

As  to  these  petitions,  there  are  some  other  things  that  I  desire  to  call 
to  your  attention.  The  route  from  Bismarck  to  Tongue  Kiver  runs 
through  the  region  where  General  Ouster  was  killed.  It  was  301 
miles  long,  and  over  the  whole  length  there  was  not  a  person  living; 
there  was  not  a  cabin.  The  Indians  roamed  over  it  so  freely  that 
after  Mr.  Miner  had  entered  into  a  contract  to  run  the  route  for  $2,350 
a  year,  which  was  very  much  less  than  the  work  could  be  done  for, 
he  came  in  and  filed  all  sorts  of  petitions  to  show  that  it  was  impos- 
sible to  run  the  mail  over  the  route  without  a  company  of  soldiers  to 
protect  the  mail  carrier  from  Indians ;  that  there  was  no  mail  matter 
and  no  necessity  for  the  route  anyway;  yet,  within  sixty  days  after- 
wards, this  same  Mr.  Miner  wras  coming  in  with  affidavits  alleging  that 
the  country  was  so  full  of  people,  that  they  were  so  intelligent,  and  that 
they  wanted  mail  facilities  so  much  that  there  was  great  need  for  expe- 
dition and  increase;  and  I  think  before  he  got  through  he  ran  the  orig- 
inal sum  of  $2,350  a  year  up  to  $70,000  a  year.  When  they  commenced 
on  that  route  they  had  to  send  a  party  out  to  build  their  stations.  They 
employed  a  man  whom  we  shall  place  before  you,  a  sturdy,  respectable, 


49 

and  well-to-do  contractor  of  considerable  means  and  large  experience^ 
to  go  over  the  route  with  a  party  of  twelve  or  fifteen  men  and  build  a 
station  every  seventeen  miles.  They  sent  there  to  superintend  the 
business  at  different  times  John  W.  Dorsey  and  Mr.  Eerdell.  Mr.  Eer- 
dell,  as  the  representative  of  these  parties,  went  to  the  contractor,  Mr. 
Peunell,  and  said  to  him,  "I  want  you  to  take  your  gang  of  men  and 
have  them  sign  a  petition  stating  that  they  are  residents  of  a  town  or 
settlement  which  is  some  forty  or  fifty  miles  north  of  our  line,  and  that 
they  want  mail  service  from  their  residence  down  to  our  line,  and  rec- 
ommend that  one  of  your  gang  be  made  the  postmaster  at  this  suppo- 
sititious place,  and  we  will  get  an  order  to  have  the  service  put  on  and 
will  get  pay  for  it."  The  contractor  was  too  honest  a  man  to  do  any- 
thing of  that  kind,  but  the  proposition  shows  what  these  parties  were 
doing  and  how  they  were  getting  up  petitions. 

We  shall  show  to  you,  gentlemen,  on  one  route  a  petition  for  an  in- 
crease of  service  in  Oregon,  which  petition  occupies  half  a  sheet  of  fools- 
cap paper,  coming  down  to  within  three  or  four  lines  of  the  end  of  the 
paper.  There  are  then  some  three  or  four  names,  and  then  there  are 
pasted  on  to  it  several  sheets  of  signatures  of  people.  We  shall  show 
to  you  that  every  one  of  those  signers  lived  in  Utah,  more  than  a  thou- 
sand miles  from  this  route,  and  had  no  connection  with  it  in  any  way, 
but  that  the  names  pasted  on  to  that  petition  were  signed  for  an  entirely 
different  purpose,  and  being  in  the  petition  mill  of  these  contractors 
they  were  undoubtedly  taken  from  the  heading  where  they  were  origi- 
nally placed,  attached  to  this  piece  of  paper,  and  made  to  do  service  as 
a  petition  of  citizens  living  along  the  Oregon  route,  recommending  ex- 
pedition and  increase  of  service,  when  in  point  of  fact  none  of  the  men 
lived  within  a  thousand  miles  of  the  route.  I  doubt  whether  any  of  the 
signers  ever  heard  of  either  terminus  or  of  any  post-office  on  the  route. 
We  shall  show  you  another  case  where  the  petition  that  came  here 
was  a  petition  asking  for  a  reduction  to  thirty-six  hours  as  the  sched- 
ule time,  and  yet  that  the  affidavit  of  the  contractor  is  an  affidavit, 
looking  to  a  reduction  to  twenty-six  hours;  and  we  shall  show  you  that 
Mr.  Brady  promptly  made  the  order  reducing  the  time  to  twenty-six 
hours,  and  providing  for  the  paying  of  a  large  sum  of  money  into  the 
contractor's  pocket  by  the  reduction.  When  the  order  got  out  into  the 
locality  the  postmasters,  contractors,  and  everybody  said  "this  cannot 
be  intended;  we  do  not  want  a  tweiity-six-hour  schedule;  it  is  an  ab- 
surdity ;  we  have  not  asked  for  it ;  it  does  not  improve  our  connections 
or  benefit  us  at  all ;  there  must  have  been  some  mistake  of  a  copyist  or 
something  of  that  sort."  So  they  performed  the  service  in  thirty-six 
hours  for  weeks,  thinking  they  were  doing  everything  they  ought  to  do, 
but  they  finally  found  out  that  Mr.  Brady,  in  the  beneficence  of  his 
generosity,  had  chosen  to  reduce  the  service  over  the  route  ten  hours 
less  than  any  petition  had  asked  for,  and  that  the  only  man  who  ever 
mentioned  the  time  of  twenty-six  hours  as  desired  upon  that  route  was 
the  contractor  here  in  Washington,  who  made  affidavits  as  to  the  num- 
ber of  men  and  horses  that  would  be  needed  to  carry  the  mail  in  twenty- 
six  hours,  and  yet  who  had  no  knowledge  on  the  subject.  I  may  say  in 
passing  that  the  affidavit  was  a  gross  misstaternent. 

Now,  Mr.  Brady  did  not  do  these  things  ignorantly.  He  did  them 
after  remonstrance  in  many  cases.  For  instance,  on  the  route  from 
Pueblo  to  Eosita  Mr.  Brady  was  informed  by  a  Mr.  Magrue  on  the  30th 
of  August,  1878,  that  a  petition  was  being  circulated  for  three  trips; 
that  the  mail  did  not  go  over  that  Eosita  route,  and  that  it  went  by 
railroad.  On  the  following  17th  of  March  the  postmaster  at  Green- 

4GB 


50 

wood,  the  only  intermediate  station,  advised  the  discontinuance  of  the 
service  on  the  route,  on  the  ground  that  the  mail  could  be  carried 
quicker  and  better  in  another  way.  Yet,  on  the  8th  of  July,  1879, 
three  months  after  the  remonstrance  of  the  postmaster,  Mr.  Brady, 
in  disregard  of  this  notice,  and  disregarding  the  suggestion  that 
Ihe  route  be  abandoned  entirely,  increased  the  trips  from  one  to  six 
times  a  week,  and  reduced  the  time  from  fifteen  hours  to  ten  hours, 
increasing  the  pay,  which  was  originally  $388,  to  $8,148.  That  is  the 
route  on  which  I  told  you  that  the  subcontractor,  by  his  contract  on  file, 
was  to  perform  the  service  for  $3,100,  for  which  Mr.  Brady,  in  spite  of 
the  remonstrance  of  the  postmaster,  had  agreed  to  pay  $8,148,  and  the 
isubcontractor  had  so  good  a  thing  of  it  that  he  let  it  out  to  somebody 
•else  for  $2,600.  Mr.  Brady  insisted  on  paying  the  contractors  on  tfyis 
Toute  about  $6,000  for  doing  nothing. 

On  the  8th  of  May,  1880,  the  postmaster  at  Greenwood,  by  this  time 
another  man — there  had  been  a  change  in  the  office — advised  the  dis- 
continuance of  the  service  on  that  route,  and  stated  that  in  so  advising 
he  had  the  concurrence  of  the  postmasters  at  Eosita  and  at  Pueblo, 
which  offices  were  all  the  offices  upon  the  line,  and  that  the  route  be 
supplied  in  a  different  way.  Mr.  Brady  not  only  paid  no  attention  to 
that  advice,  but  I  think  he  went  on  and  made  a  further  increase  upon 
the  route. 

On  route  38135,  from  Saint  Charles  to  Greenhorn,  the  postmaster  at 
Pueblo  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  route  as  advertised  ended 
at  a  pump ;  that  there  was  no  town  and  no  reason  for  its  ending  where  it 
did ;  and  that  the  proper  terminus  of  the  route  should  be  Pueblo.  Mr. 
Brady's  attention  was  called  to  that  fact  before  the  contract  was  let ;  was 
called  to  it  by  one  of  his  own  post-office  inspectors.  He  went  on  and  let 
the  contract  to  Saint  Charles,  and  then  there  was  a  temporary  arrange- 
ment made  by  which  they  got  the  mail  from  Pueblo  to  Saint  Charles. 
Then  Mr.  Brady  extended  the  service  to  Pueblo ;  but  after  he  had  extend- 
ed it  the  route  w^s  just  as  long  as  it  was  advertised  at.  He  had  not 
lengthened  it  a  particle.  The  mistake  had  been  made  in  the  advertise- 
ment. By  some  mistake  or  other  they  had  inserted  Saint  Charles  when 
they  should  have  inserted  Pueblo,  though  they  gave  the  correct  distance 
to  Pueblo.  Yet  Mr.  Brady  added  twelve  miles,  I  think  it  was — an 
alleged  twelve  miles,  a  fictitious  twelve  miles — to  that  route  from  Saint 
Charles  to  Pueblo,  gave  the  contractor  for  carrying  the  mail  an  increased 
allowance  on  that  twelve  miles,  made  that  increased  allowance  largely 
more  than  his  own  records  showed  the  mail  was  being  carried  for  over 
those  twelve  miles  under  a  temporary  service.  And  then  having  done 
that,  and  having  got  his  route  well  extended  to  Pueblo  and  got  it  in 
good  shape  for  expedition,  he  made  an  order  for  expedition  and  gave  to 
the  contractor  a  large  sum  of  money  for  making  expedition,  and  then 
arranged  a  schedule  by  which  the  mails  arrived  at  Pueblo  (Pueblo  being 
a  large  railroad  station)  just  after  the  trains  left,  and  they  laid  over 
there  a  good  many  more  hours  than  he  had  saved  time  by  his  pretended 
expedition. 

On  the  route  from  Ojo  Galiente  to  Parrott  City  I  have  already  called 
your  attention  to  the  fact  that  Mr.  Brady  insisted  upon  having  a  sched- 
ule of  impossible  time  when  his  postmasters  told  him  it  could  not  be 
done  in  that  time.  He  insisted  upon  having  it  done. 

On  the  route  from  Eawlins  to  White  River,  in  Wyoming,  the  post- 
master at  White  Eiver,  on  the  22d  of  January,  1879,  wrote  to  him  saying 
that  the  time  of  five  days  ought  to  be  made  66  hours  in  winter  and  56 
hours  in  summer.  Yet  on  the  1st  of  May,  1879,  four  or  five  months  after- 


51 

-wards,  Mr.  Brady,  in  the  face  of  the  recommendation  of  the  postmaster 
-at  the  principal  office,  reduced  the  time  to  45  hours,  less  than  two  days, 
though  the  postmaster  had  written  him  that  the  existing  time  ought  to 
foe  lengthened  to  six  days  in  winter  and  five  days,  in  summer. 

On  the  route  from  Verinillion  to  Sioux  Falls  this  thing  occurred. 
The  route  had  been  let  as  fifty  miles  long  when,  in  fact,  it  was  seventy- 
five  miles  long.  That  was  a  mistake.  The  original  schedule  was  four- 
teen hours.  Mr.  Brady  reduced  it  to  ten  hours  and  allowed  $3,680  in 
-consequence  of  the  reduction.  That  made  ten  hours  in  which  to  go 
seventy-five  miles,  and  there  being  ten  post-offices  on  the  route,  and 
each  postmaster  being  entitled  to  detain  the  carrier  seven  minutes,  the 
result  was  that  they  were  obliged  to  make  seventy-five  miles  in  less 
than  nine  hours,  which  is  pretty  good  time  as  we  should  all  think.  On 
the  15th  of  December,  1879,  every  postmaster  on  the  route  advised 
that  the  time  should  be  extended  to  sixteen  hours.  They  sent  that  pe- 
tition to  Judge  Bennett,  the  representative  of  the  Territory  in  Congress, 
the  man  who  stood  in  the  position  which  it  will  be  urged  to  you  was  all- 
powerful  with  Brady — a  Congressman  or  a  Senator  5  and  it  will  be 
claimed  that  their  recommendation  was  conclusive.  Judge  Bennett 
sent  that  remonstrance  of  the  postmasters,  requesting  that  it  be  made 
sixteen  hours,  to  the  Post-Office  Department,  and  Mr.  Brady  indorsed 
upon  it  in  his  own  handwriting — 

"  WRITE  JUDGE  B.  IT  CANNOT  BE  DONE." 

That  was  the  sole  answer  he  gave  to  the  representations  of  the  people 
out  there — 

"  WRITE  JUDGE  B.  IT  CANNOT  BE  DONE." 

Except  that  he  added — 

"It  would  be  unjust  to  the  other  bidders." 

What  that  injustice  might  be  I  cannot  understand.  That  it  would 
be  unjust  to  anybody  I  cannot  see,  unless  there  might  have  been  a  little 
injustice  in  taking  from  the  contractors  an  increased  sum  which  they 
were  receiving  for  expedition  when  they  had  already  expended  a  large 
portion  of  that  sum  in  paying  the  necessary  expenses  in  the  Post-Office 
Department  for  getting  the  expedition.  There  might  have  been  in  a 
certain  sense  a  little  injustice  there,  but  it  was  not  an  injustice  which 
concerned  the  public. 

On  the  route  from  Toquerville  to  Adairville,  in  Utah,  the  original 
schedule  of  sixty  hours  was,  by  an  order  made  the  8th  of  July,  reduced 
to  thirty-three  hours.  All  the  petitions  asked  for  forty-eight  hours. 
No  one  of  them  asked  for  thirty-three  hours.  There  is  no  evidence  of 
thirty-three  hours  being  desired  by  anybody,  except  in  the  affidavit  of 
the  contractor.  There  is  not  a  syllable  in  any  petition  asking  for  thirty- 
three  hours.  The  postmaster  at  one  of  the  chief  towns  on  the  route,  on 
the  21st  of  December,  1879,  advised  a  return  to  sixty  hours,  and  in  the 
following  March  all  the  postmasters  on  the  route  advised  a  return  to 
sixty  hours,  and  Mr.  Brady  paid  no  attention  whatever  to  it,  but  con- 
tinued on  with  this  service  not  desired  by  the  people  in  the  locality. 
That,  gentlemen,  by  the  way,  was  the  route  on  which,  as  I  told  you,  he 
insisted  upon  making  his  order  for  expedition  just  before  he  made  his 
order  cutting  off  ten  miles  from  the  end  of  the  route  in  order  to  give  the 
contractor  the  extra  sum. 

There  are  other  cases.  I  think  I  have  already  referred  to  a  case 
where  in  spite  of  the  law,  which  says  that  no  order  for  increased  serv- 
ice shall  be  antedated  so  as  to  take  effect  before  it  is  made,  Mr.  Brady, 
in  direct  opposition  to  that,  made  an  order  which  was  antedated  and 
took  large  sums  of  money  from  the  Treasury.  Moreover,  the  petitions 


52 

asked  for  an  increase  of  service  or  expedition  only  upon  a  portion  of 
that  route,  and  they  denned  that  portion.  The  petitions  asked  for  an 
increase  on  a  portion  of  the  route,  and  they  gave  good  reasons  why 
they  wanted  it  only  on  a  portion.  In  the  progress  of  time  a  railroad 
had  been  built,  so  that  if  they  could  have  an  increase  over  the  portion 
of  the  route  simply  between  the  station  of  the  railroad  and  a  promi- 
nent place  beyond  they  would  save  time  and  gain  a  good  deal  in  the 
reception  of  their  mail  matter.  The  petitions  asked  only  an  increase 
on  that  portion  of  the  route.  Mr.  Brady  used  those  petitions  as  his 
alleged  authority  for  ordering  an  increase  on  the  whole  route.  He- 
ordered  an  increase  on  the  whole  route,  I  think,  nearly  two  hundred 
miles  long,  when  the  petitions  asked  for  an  increase  only  upon  about 
sixty  or  seventy  miles. 

Now,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  all  this  class  of  frauds  which  I  have 
stated  to  you  we  expect  to  prove,  and  prove  by  witnesses  who  will  not 
and  cannot  be  contradicted.  We  also  propose  to  call  your  attention, 
gentlemen  of  the  jury,  to  some  facts  in  connection  with  those  things- 
which  will  show  to  you  that  this  business  was  a  prearranged  matter; 
that  it  was  not  an  accidental  thing.  We  shall  show  to  you  on  route 
after  route  that  when  these  parties  went  out  onto  the  route  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  service,  they  stated  to  parties  with  whom  they  were 
arranging  for  subcontracts,  and  so  forth,  that  the  trips  would  be  in- 
creased, that  the  speed  would  be  increased.  They  specified  precisely 
what  would  be  done.  They  told  how  many  trips  would  be  added. 
They  told  how  much  the  speed  would  be  increased,  and  they  told  within 
what  time  it  would  be  increased,  and  the  result  showed  that  they  told 
correctly.  We  shall  show  to  you  this :  That  affidavits  for  increase  were 
made  which  referred  to  the  precise  time  which  was  subsequently 
allowed  by  Mr.  Brady's  order,  and  those  affida  dts  upon  their  face  were 
sworn  to  months  before  there  was  ever  a  petition  started  or  ever  any 
suggestion  made  of  an  increase  upon  the  route,  when  the  idea  of  an  in- 
crease rested  only  in  the  minds  of  these  parties.  They  armed  them- 
selves with  affidavits,  and  in  those  affidavits  they  were  able  to  fix  the 
preciee  time  which,  when  petitions  came  to  Brady  subsequently,  upon 
the  alleged  faith  of  which  he  acted,  he  ordered  to  be  put  into  practice. 
Even  when  the  petitions  asked  for  thirty-six  hours,  the  affidavit  made 
beforehand,  dated  beforehand,  asked  for  twenty-six  hours,  they  were 
able  then,  way  back  before  this  thing  had  been  stirred,  in  some  way  or 
other  to  say,  that  Mr.  Brady  would  like  to  know  how  many  men  and 
horses  would  be  necessary  to  carry  the  mail  in  twenty-six  hours,  and 
they  made  their  affidavits  stating  how  many  would  be  necessary  to  make 
that  time.  We  shall  ask  you,  gentlemen,  from  that  condition  of  things 
and  some  others  of  that  sort  to  draw  the  inference,  from  which  there 
does  not  seem  to  be  any  escape,  that  this  whole  matter  was  prearranged. 

We  shall  show  to  you,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  that  on  many  of  these 
routes  they  paid  at  the  outset  more  than  they  got  from  the  Govern- 
ment, and  we  do  not  suppose  it  will  be  claimed  that  these  defendants 
were  such  patriotic  citizens,  that  the  humble  mechanic  from  Ver- 
mont came  down  here  and  went  into  the  mail  service  for  the  pur- 
pose of  paying  out  to  some  subcontractor  more  money  than  he  got 
from  the  Government,  and  that  he  did  it  for  the  purpose  of  relieving 
the  Government  from  the  burdens  under  which  it  was  laboring.  WTe 
shall  show  to  you,  for  instance,  that  on  the  route  from  Pueblo  to 
Eosita  they  got  only  $388.  They  originally  made  a  contract  with  the 
subcontractor  by  which  they  were  compelled  to  pay  him  $700  for  car- 
rying the  mail,  and  yet  they  were  rewarded  for  their  bread  cast  upon 


53 

the  waters.  For  Mr.  Brady  promptly  came  to  their  assistance  and  car' 
:ried  the  original  sum  of  $388  up  to  $8,148,  and  thus  transformed  a 
losing  contract  into  one  which  was  largely  profitable.  On  the  route 
from  Silverton  to  Parrott  City  we  shall  show  to  you  that  Mr.  John  W. 
Dorsey  received  from  the  United  States  for  carrying  the  mail  $1,488; 
that  he  made  a  contract  by  which  he  agreed  to  pay  $2,280  to  somebody 
-else  for  doing  that  thing  for  him,  and  that  he  was  therefore  losing 
money  at  a  pretty  fair  rate  for  a  man  not  a  very  heavy  capitalist ;  but 
he  got  himself  even  very  soon,  for  Mr.  Brady  proceeded  to  run  up  his 
$1,488  to  $14,870.01.  And  you  will  bear  in  mind  that  in  no  case  does  it 
appear,  I  think,  that  a  subcontractor  performing  the  service  ever  got 
more  than  about  65  per  cent,  of  the  increased  sum  allowed  for  expedi- 
tion. So  that  this  increase  which  Mr.  Brady  made,  carrying  it  up  from 
$1,488  to  $14,870.01,  redounded  largely  to  the  benefit  of  the  contractor, 
Mr.  Dorsey.  There  is  the  route  from  Eugene  City  to  Bridge  Creek,  in 
Oregon.  Mr.  Peck,  Mr.  Dorsey *s  brother-in-law,  was  the  contractor 
there.  He  was  not  quite  so  liberal.  He  got  from  the  Government 
$2,468,  and  he  agreed  to  pay  $2,700  for  carrying  the  mail,  and  was 
therefore  at  a  loss  of  about  $250.  But  Mr.  Brady  promptly  came  to 
his  assistance  and  carried  up  the  sum  which  the  Government  paid  to 
Peck  from  $2,468  to  $21,460.89.  The  route  from  Mineral  Park  to  Pioche 
was  let  at  $2,982.  John  W.  Dorsey  went  out  there  and  made  an 
arrangement  by  which  he  agreed  to  pay  $4,700  for  doing  what  the 
Government  paid  him  only  $2,982  for  doing.  But  he  made  at  the  same 
time  a  contract  with  the  subcontractor  by  which,  on  an  increase, 
the  subcontractor  who  was  to  do  all  the  service  was  to  get  $12,600, 
but  Mr.  Dorsey  was  to  get  on  the  increase  $9,700  net.  The  subcon- 
tractor was  to  pay  all  the  flues  and  deductions,  and  Mr.  Dorsey  was  to 
get  $9,700  net,  and  after  he  got  away  from  Wyoming,  I  think  it  was,  he 
wrote  a  letter  to  his  subcontractor  in  which,  in  goiug  over  the  terms, 
he  told  him  what  a  good  thing  he  would  have  on  an  increase,  and  said 
to  him  that  it  was  "  the  most  liberal  trade  that  he  had  made  with  any 
subcontractor  since  he  left  home."  A  trade  by  which  he  got  $9,700  net  for 
doing  nothing,  where  the  contractor  was  to  get  $12,600  for  carrying 
the  mails,  and  a  trade  on  a  route  where  at  the  time  the  contractor  was 
being  paid  $4,700  and  Mr.  Dorsey  was  getting  from  the  Government 
only  $2,900.  On  the  route  from  Kawlius  to  White  River  the  contractor 

fot  from  the  Government  $  1,700.  He  arranged  to  pay  the  subcontractor 
2,500 — a  net  loss  of  $800,  but  he  promptly  covered  himself,  for  he  got 
from  Mr.  Brady  orders  for  expedition  and  increase  under  which  he,  the 
contractor,  got  $8,600  for  doing  nothing,  and  the  subcontractor  $5,100 
for  doing  the  service;  and  by  and  by  there  came  a  further  increase,  so 
that  the  Government  was  paying  for  a  service  which  started  at  $1,700  a 
year  no  less  than  $31,981.25  a  year.  I  shall  ask  you  to  infer,  gentlemen, 
that  these  contractors  did  not  go  into  this  business  of  carry  ing  these  mails 
with  the  intention  of  being  at  a  loss,  and  that  they  had  some  under- 
standing or  arrangement  by  which  they  knew  that  after  they  got  the 
contracts  well  made,  in  some  cases  before  the  service  was  commenced, 
they  could  get  an  expedition  or  an  increase  of  service  which  would  run 
up  the  sums  coming  to  them  largely,  and  it  would  convert  what  was 
a  small,  losing  contract  into  a  large,  profitable  one. 

On  the  route  from  Bismarck  to  Fort  Keogh,  as  showing  the  absolute 
ecessity  of  belief  that  they  had  some  prearraugement,  we  shall  show 
ou  this  condition  of  things:    Mr.  Miner's  contract  gave  him  from  the 
Government  for  the  aggregate  of  the  four  years  during  which  the  con- 
tract was  to  continue,  $9,500.    To  perform  the  service  on  the  original 


54 

schedule  time  there  had  to  be  stations  built  for  changing  horses  and 
stabling  horses  once  in  thirty-five  miles.  The  route  was  301  miles  long. 
They  set  to  work  and  at  the  very  outset  made  a  contract  with  a  man, 
whom  we  shall  place  before  you,  under  which  they  arranged  to  have 
stations  for  changing  horses  every  seventeen  miles.  They  built  their 
stations  there,  and  when  asked  why  they  did  it,  said  that  when  they 
came  to  increase  the  service  they  should  have  to  change  horses  every 
seventeen  miles,  and  that  they  were  going  to  have  an  increase  of  service 
and  wanted  to  arrange  for  it ;  and  they  built  those  stations  at  every^ 
seventeen  miles.  When  the  service  first  commenced  they  used  only 
every  other  station.  In  building  stations,  and  for  things  other  than  the 
horses  used  on  the  route,  they  spent  $6,000,  though  the  aggregate 
amount  that  they  were  to  receive  under  the  contract  in  the  whole  four- 
years  was  only  $9,500,  and  this  was  a  trackless  prairie.  They  spent 
$6,000  for  building  their  stations,  but  their  faith  was  rewarded,  for  their 
$2,350  was  shortly  carried  up  by  Brady  to  $70,000.  That  route,  gentle- 
men, is  the  route  upon  which  they  proposed  to  the  contractor,  Mr.  Pen- 
nell, to  get  up  this  bogus  petition  to  be  signed  by  his  party  of  people.. 
I  have  a  memorandum  here  of  something  else  in  connection  with  that 
route,  to  which  I  desire  to  call  your  attention. 

On  that  route  John  W.  Dorsey,  the  same  man  who  made  those  incon- 
sistent oaths  sworn  to  on  the  same  day,  to  which  I  have  already  called 
your  attention,  went  out  there  and  got  the  route  in  operation  when  the 
pay  was  only  $2,350.  John  E.  Miner  was  the  contractor.  John  W_ 
Dorsey  went  out  there  to  set  the  route  in  operation.  M.  C.  Rerdell,  an- 
other of  the  defendants,  went  with  him  or  joined  him  there.  He  wanted 
Mr.  Pennell,  the  contractor,  whom  we  shall  place  before  you,  to  become 
a  partner  on  that  route  and  to  take  a  half  interest  in  it.  Early  in 
July,  1878,  he  made  him  that  proposition,  and  he  told  Mr.  Pennell 
that  there  would  be  an  increase  of  not  less  than  $25,000;  that 
he  had  a  brother  in  Washington  who  would  help  it  through;  that 
there  would  surely  be  two  increases  inside  of  a  year;  that  the 
second  increase  would  be  to  six  or  seven  trips  a  week,  and  that  the 
time  would  be  reduced  to  sixty-five  hours.  That  conversation,  gentle- 
men, occurred  early  in  July,  1878,  and  on  the  4th  of  October,  1878,  there- 
was  an  increase  of  trips,  and  the  time  was  reduced  to  precisely  the  time 
that  John  W.  Dorsey  said  it  would  be — sixty-five  hours — and  there 
was  allowed  for  that  $27,950.  He  told  Pennell  that  there  would  be  an 
increase  of  at  least  $25,000.  Brady  saw  it,  and  went  him  $3,000  better. 
He  wanted  Pennell  to  go  into  partnership  with  him,  furnish  the  money  r 
and  run  the  route,  and  he  mentioned  as  the  reason  why  he  should  da 
so  that  there  would  be  this  increase,  and  that  what  would  be  obviously 
a  losing  route  would  become  a  paying  route.  Mr.  Pennell  did  not  be- 
lieve this  condition  of  things,  or  if  he  did  believe  it  he  did  not  want  to* 
have  anything  to  do  with  a  matter  which  on  its  face  seemed  of  such 
doubtful  propriety,  and  he  did  not  go  into  it.  He  was  told  there  would 
be  two  orders  in  the  year  and  $25,000  increase.  One  of  the  orders  was 
made  on  the  24th  of  October,  1878,  within  three  months  after,  making 
the  increase  to  two  trips,  and  reducing  it  to  the  precise  time  to  which 
Mr.  Dorsey  said  it  would  be  reduced.  But  Mr.  Dorsey  did  not  quite 
come  to  time  on  his  second  order.  He  was  going  to  have  his  two  orders 
within  a  year.  The  conversation  occurred  early  in  July,  1878,  and  it 
was  not  until  the  2d  of  August,  1879,  that  Mr.  Dorsey  came  round  with 
his  second  order.  But  he  got  these  two  orders ;  he  got  just  the  increase 
that  he  said  he  was  going  to  get,  and  he  got  them  from  Mr.  Brady. 
That  conversation  occurred  in  July,  1878,  at  the  very  time  when  John 


55 

W.  Dorsey  and  M.  C.  Rerdell  were  out  there  making  arrangements  for 
putting  on  the  service.  Mr.  Miner  was,  by  his  agents  here,  putting  into 
the  Post-Office  Department  affidavits  to  show  that  there  was  no  ground 
for  any  mail  service  at  all  upon  that  route;  that  there  were  no  post- 
offices,  no  inhabitants  except  the  Indians,  and  that  no  mail  could  be 
run  over  that  route  unless  every  carrier  was  accompanied  by  a  company 
of  soldiers.  That  conversation  occurred  out  there  with  John  W.  Dorsey 
at  about  the  same  time  that  Miner  at  this  end  of  the  route  was  making 
that  kind  of  a  statement.  The  fact  is  shown  that  they  had  taken  that 
route  at  greatly  less  than  it  could  be  run.  They  had  got  to  get  rid  of 
a  loss  in  one  way  or  the  other.  They  could  not  get  rid  of  it  by  get- 
ting it  discontinued.  They  could  then  get  Pennell  or  some  man  out 
there  to  be  fool  enough  to  go  into  it  with  them,  or  they  could  go  in  and 
get  expedition ;  and  when  they  had  to  run  the  route,  owing  to  the  in- 
sistence and  urgency  of  the  Delegate  from  Dakota,  there  was  no  remedy 
for  them  to  save  themselves  and  to  make  their  profits  except  by  getting 
these  two  increases  that  Dorsey  said  they  would  get,  and  getting  this 
reduction  that  Dorsey  said  he  would  have. 

At  this  point  (1  o'clock  p.  m.)  the  court  took  a  recess  for  half  an  hour 


AFTER  RECESS. 

Mr.  BLISS.  [Resuming.]  I  was  calling  your  attention,  gentlemen,  at 
the  adjournment,  to  some  of  the  evidence  which  we  should  present  to 
you,  showing  pre-arraugement  in  this  matter,  and  I  had  called  your  at- 
tention to  the  circumstances  connected  with  the  route  from  Bismarck 
to  Fort  Keogh.  I  now  pass  for  the  moment  to  the  route  from  Kearney 
to  Kent.  That  is  the  route  upon  which  the  petition,  altered  to  thirteen 
hours,  was  presented.  But  it  is  to  another  phase  of  it  that  I  desire  now 
to  direct  your  attention.  The  earliest  papers  on  that  route  that  reached 
the  department,  looking  either  to  increase  of  trips  or  increase  of  speed, 
reached  there  on  the  30th  of  April,  1879.  All  the  other  papers  in  the 
case  got  there  in  May.  As  early  as  the  first  day  of  February,  1879, 
Mr.  Peck,  the  contractor,  out  in  New  Mexico,  had  somehow  or  other 
found  out  that  thirteen  hours  was  to  be  the  precise  time  to  which  the 
schedule  was  to  be  reduced,  and  he  had  made  his  affidavit  of  the  num- 
ber of  men  and  horses  that  would  be  required  on  a  time  of  thirteen 
hours.  In  other  words  he  knew,  before  any  paper  came  to  the  depart- 
ment, and  there  never  was  any  paper  in  the  department  relating  to 
thirteen  hours,  except  that  altered  petition,  and  that  altered  petition 
was  not  sent  here  until  the  13th  of  April,  1879 — and  yet  on  the  first 
day  of  February,  1879,  in  New  Mexico,  Mr.  Peck  knew  that  thirteen 
hours  was  the  time  that  Mr.  Brady  was  going  to  order. 

On  route  44140  from  Eugene  City  to  Bridge  Creek,  the  same  Peck,  on 
the  22d  of  January,  1879,  made  his  oath  referring  to  a  schedule  of  fifty 
hours  three  times  a  week.  He  transmitted  it  in  a  proposal  which  re- 
ferred to  a  schedule  of  sixty  hours.  That  paper  did  not  get  on  file  till 
into  April,  and  in  April  for  the  first  time  did  any  paper  looking  to  expe- 
dition appear  on  file.  Those  were  papers  asking  for  100  hours ;  no  one  of 
them  referred  to  fifty  or  sixty  hours ;  and  though  Mr.  Peck's  oath,  made 
on  the  22d  of  January,  speaks  of  fifty  hours,  and  though  fifty  hours  was 
the  time  fixed  by  Brady  in  his  order  dated  the  22d  of  June,  1879,  there 
was  not  a  paper  on  file  in  the  department,  either  before  or  after  Mr. 


56 

Peck  made  his  oath  way  back  in  January,  which  looked  to  any  such 
period  of  time.  But  Mr.  Brady  made  his  order  that  fitted  Peck's  affidavit 
made  in  the  preceding  January. 

On  the  route  from  Toquerville  to  Adairville,  Peck  made  his  oath  on 
the  22d  of  January,  1879,  asking  for  seven  trips  and  thirty-three  hours. 
The  petitions  asking  for  expedition  were  not  received  until  the  25th  of 
June.  The  order  was  made  on  the  8th  of  July.  The  petitions  asked 
for  forty-eight  hours,  There  is  not  a  paper  that  asks  for  anything 
smaller  than  forty-eight  hours.  Mr.  Peck's  oath,  made  the  22d  of  Jan- 
uary, looked  to  thirty-three  hours,  and  Mr.  Brady's  order,  made  on  the 
8th  of  July,  is  an  order  for  thirty-three  hours. 

On  route  38156,  from  Silverton  to  Parrott  City,  Mr.  John  W.  Dorsey 
made  his  oath  on  the  21st  of  April,  1879.  He  transmitted  it  on  the 
5th  of  May,  1879.  It  refers  to  a  schedule  of  fifteen  hours  and  seven 
trips.  Of  the  papers  on  file,  a  letter  dated  April  24,  three  days  after 
the  date  of  Dorsey's  oath,  says,  ua  daily  service  and  fast  time."  One 
of  the  5th  of  May  says,  u  daily  service  and  faster  time."  One  on  the 
25th  of  April  says,  "three  trips  and  faster  time."  One  on  the  26th  of 
April  says,  "  daily  and  faster  time ; "  there  being,  as  you  will  perceive, 
in  these  papers  no  reference  to  any  particular  time.  Three  trips  is  men- 
tioned, but  usually  only  " faster  time"  or  "fast  time."  Dorsey,  on  the 
5th  of  May,  1879,  made  his  affidavit  for  fifteen  hours  and  seven  trips. 
Dorsey  having  made  his  affidavit  on  the  5th  of  May,  1879,  for  fifteen 
hours,  on  the  12th  of  June,  1879,  Brady  makes  his  order  for  a  fifteen- 
hour  schedule,  when  there  is  not  a  paper  on  file  that  specifies  fifteen 
hours  in  any  manner.  How  did  Dorsey  happen  to  hit  upon  the  figure 
of  fifteen  hours  ?  The  then  existing  schedule  was  thirty-three  hours. 
Brady  reduced  the  thirty-seven  hours  to  fifteen  hours  on  the  12th  of 
June,  1879,  and  that  was  the  precise  figure  that  John  W.  Dorsey  had 
selected  from  the  whole  schedule  of  thirty -seven  hours  down,  on  the 
21st  of  April,  1879,  as  that  to  which  the  reduction  was  to  be  made. 

On  route  44155,  from  Dalles  to  Baker  City,  Peck  made  the  oath  on 
the  15th  of  December,  1878,  and  specified  seventy-two  hours.  The 
schedule  then  was  120  hours.  The  order  was  made  on  the  29th  of 
October  following,  and  was  for  seventy-two  hours.  The  petitions 
naming  that  time  are  dated  at  the  end  of  September.  They  did  not 
reach  the  department  until  the  20th  or  23d  of  October.  On  the  23d  of 
October  the  order  was  made,  and  yet  those  petitions  and  the  orders 
specified  the  precise  time,  seventy-two  hours,  which  Mr.  Peck  had  in 
his  affidavit  fixed  way  back  in  December,  1878,  nearly  ten  months  pre- 
viously. 

On  route  38113,  from  Kawlins  to  White  Kiver,  Mr.  M.  C,  Rerdell,  one 
of  these  defendants,  wrote  on  the  8th  of  February,  1881 : 

I  can  get  the  increase  to  six  or  seven  trips  if  you  will  send  me  petitions  so  as  to 
liave  them  here  before  the  4th  of  March. 

You  will  bear  in  mind  that  General  Garfield  was  to  come  into  office 
on  the  4th  of  March,  and  Mr.  Brady's  tenure  of  office  as  Second  Assist- 
ant Postmaster-General  was  not  likely  to  be  very  permanent  after  that 
time. 

I  can  get  the  increase  to  six  or  seven  trips  if  you  will  send  petitions  so  as  to  have 
them  here  before  the  4th  of  Marcb. 

They  did  not  get  here  quite  on  time.  I  shall  show  you  how  they  were 
got  up.  They  got  here  on  the  5th  of  March,  and  on  the  8th  of  March, 
Mr.  Brady  being  still  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General,  but  Thomas 
L.  James  having  become  Postmaster-General,  Mr.  Brady  made  an 


57 

order  for  an  increase  to  seven  trips,  precisely  what  Mr.  Kerdell  said 
he  could  get  if  he  got  the  petitions.  They  were  filed  on  the  5th,  and, 
as  I  say,  on  the  8th  Brady  made  the  order.  That  order  was  entered 
upon  the  journal  of  the  department  as  all  proceedings  of  the  depart- 
ment are.  At  the  end  of  the  day  the  journal  is  brought  to  the  Post- 
master-General for  signature.  The  last  order  of  the  day  put  on  there 
was  this  order  that  Mr.  Brady  had  made,  that  the  trips  should  be  in- 
creased to  seven  and  a  large  allowance  made  for  it.  Mr.  James  saw  it. 
He  directed  that  that  order  should  be  revoked.  The  clerk  to  whom  he 
gave  the  direction  conveyed  that  information  to  Mr.  Brady.  Mr.  Brady 
came  to  Mr.  James  and  wanted  1o  know  if  that  was  to  be  the  policy  of 
his  administration  of  the  Post-Office  Department.  Mr.  James  told  him 
it  was.  Mr.  Brady  left.  Mr.  James  supposed  that  that  order  had  been 
revoked,  and  it  was  not  until  way  down  in  August,  afte'r  Mr.  Brady 
had  been  compelled  to  leave  the  Post-Office  Department,  that  it  was  by 
accident  discovered  that  Mr.  Brady  had  left  that  order  uurevoked,  and 
that  there  had  been  drawn  from  the  Treasury  thousands  of  dollars  on 
the  basis  of  that  order  which  Mr.  Brady  had  thus  made  upon  petitions 
which  Mr.  Eerdell  said  he  must  have  here  before  Mr.  James  could  be- 
come Postmaster-General,  and  which  Mr.  Brady  had  made,  and  which 
Mr.  Brady  had  taken  care  not  to  revoke. 

On  the  route  from  Ojo  Caliente  in  New  Mexico  to  Animas  City,  just 
prior  to  the  30th  of  April,  1879,  an  order  was  made  increasing  the  serv- 
ice to  three  trips.  Mr.  S.  W.  Dorsey  on  that  day  wrote  to  the  contractor 
saying  that  he  expected  to  get  it  made  daily  as  early  as  July,  giving  a 
further  increase  of  trips.  He  did  not  succeed  quite  in  his  anticipations, 
but  in  the  following  February  he  succeeded  in  getting  it  made  daily; 
and  in  that  same  connection  the  firm  of  Miner,  Peck  &  Co.,  composed 
of  Mr.  Miner,  Mr.  Peck,  and  more  or  less  of  these  other  parties  who 
were  interested  in  the  contract,  wrote  a  letter,  which  we  shall  show  to 
you,  in  which  in  a  somewhat  significant  way  they  say  they  do  not  make 
any  boast  of  "being  solid"  with  anybody,  but  they  can  get  what  is 
reasonable.  Mr.  John  W.  Dorsey  told  one  of  the  subcontractors  out  in 
Utah  that  he  had  influence  in  Washington  by  which  they  could  get  done 
what  they  wanted,  and  he  specified  various  people,  including  some  of 
these  defendants. 

On  route  38140,  from  Trinidad  to  Madison,  the  only  paper  on  file, 
when  Mr.  Brady  made  his  order  for  expedition,  which  asked  anything, 
was  a  paper  written  by  a  gentleman  in  New  York  who  had  formerly 
been  prominent  in  Colorado.  It  asked  only  for  faster  time  and  three 
times  a  week;  but  yet  there  was  there  the  same  foreknowledge  of  the 
contractor,  because  long  before  that  time  and  before  Brady  made  his 
order  the  contractor  made  an  affidavit  for  precisely  the  same  time  that 
Mr.  Brady  subsequently  ordered. 

Another  class  of  evidence  showing  the  understanding  that  must  have 
existed  we  will  show  to  you  in  the  form  of  subcontract  which  they  had 
printed.  These  defendants  had  printed  a  form  of  subcontract  which 
was  the  first  of  that  form  that  people  concerned  in  the  post  office  busi- 
ness and  of  large  experience  in  post-office  business  had  ever  seen.  They 
put  into  it  an  express  provision  providing  for  cases  of  expedition  and 
increase  of  service  that  might  subsequently  be  made.  They  arranged 
with  the  subcontractor  to  carry  the  mail  tor  so  much.  They  put  into 
their  contracts  a  provision  as  to  how  much  he  was  to  have  for  increased 
service  and  how  much  he  was  to  have  for  increased  speed.  So  far,  I 
think,  as  relates  to  increased  service  that  clause  in  the  subcontract  was 
not  unusual.  So  far  as  it  relates  to  a  provision  for  expedition  that 


58 

clause  was  unusual,  never  having  been  known  by  any  of  the  people  con- 
cerned in  the  post-office  business.  And  you  will  see  that  that  must  Ijave 
been  the  case  when  I  remind  you  that  during  nearly  five  years  of  the 
postal  service  preceding  Mr.  Brady's  entrance  upon  the  business  there 
never  had  been,  all  told,  over  twenty  cases  of  expedition,  and  therefore 
it  was  not  likely  that  there  should  be  put  into  any  printed  form  of  sub- 
contract any  provision  upon  the  subject.  But  when,  on  the  1st  of  Julyr 
1878,  these  parties  took  these  contracts  and  set  about  carrying  out 
their  scheme  the  first  thing  they  did  was  to  prepare  and  print  a  sub- 
contract which  contains  this  provision  as  to  future  expedition. 

Now,  as  to  another  feature  of  this  thing.  These  parties  bid  expressly 
as  we  say,  with  reference  to  routes  which  could  be  expedited.  They 
bid  upon  routes  which  were  advertised  at  a  low  rate  of  speed,  so  that 
there  was  room  for  expedition.  They  bid  upon  routes  with  only  a  small 
number  of  trips  a  week,  so  that  there  was  room  for  an  increase  of  trips  ^ 
and  then  having  got  contracts  on  such  bids  as  those,  they  went  in  and 
got  the  expedition  and  the  increase  of  trips.  Leaving  out,  for  the  mo- 
ment, the  matter  of  their  bids,  and  taking  only  the  contracts  which 
they  got,  of  134  routes  upon  which  they  got  contracts,  98  were  route* 
upon  which  the  service  advertised  for  was  only  one  trip  a  week;  24 
were  routes  upon  which  contracts  were  advertised  for  at  two  trips,  and 
12  were  contracts  at  three  trips  per  week.  They  obtained  134  con- 
tracts, and  on  these  134  contracts  their  trips  were  increased,  or  speed 
was  increased,  in  68  different  cases.  Upon  29  of  the  routes  it  is  true 
that  at  some  period  of  time  there  were  slight  reductions  made  by  cutting 
off  some  portion  of  the  route;  but  while  the  aggregate  increase  on  the 
68  routes  amounted  to  $750,000  on  a  bidding  of  $41,000,  the  aggregate 
decrease  amounted  only  to  $2,452.  That  took  place  upon  29  routes,  and 
upon  those  29  routes,  while  there  was  a  decrease  in  that  amount  of 
$2,452,  there  was  either  preceding  it  or  succeeding  it  an  increase  of  a 
good  deal  more  than  the  decrease.  The  result  is  that  on  20  of  their 
contracts  which  remained  diminished  in  a  sum  amounting  in  the  aggre- 
gate to  less  than  $20,000,  it  was  a  diminution  simply  by  cutting  off  some 
portion  of  the  route  usually,  because  railroads  had  come  in  and  put  an 
end  to  star  service.  But  they  gained  on  69  routes  $750,000.  I  have 
stated,  now,  what  the  condition  of  things  was  as  to  the  routes  which 
were  awarded  to  them.  In  their  bidding  they  bid  on  281  routes  where 
the  service  was  once  a  week;  on  159  routes  where  the  service  was  twice 
a  week;  on  121  routes  on  which  the  service  was  three  times  a  week;  on 
22  on  which  it  was  six  times  a  week,  and  1  on  which  it  was  seven  times 
a  week.  They  did  not  get  any  of  the  service  upon  the  routes  where  the 
trips  were  frequent,  undoubtedly,  because  upon  those  routes  where 
there  was  no  room  for  increase  of  trips  or  expedition  they  bid  higher 
than  other  bidders.  On  the  routes  which  they  did  get  they  got  them 
because  they  were  the  lowest  bidders,  and  they  bid  lowest,  as  we  shall 
ask  you  to  believe  from  the  evidence,  because  they  had  a  prearrange- 
ment,  an  understanding,  by  which  their  low  bids  were  to  be  run  up  to  a 
profitable  sum. 

Mr.  Brady  made,  or  there  were  made — and  I  think  in  this  statement 
all  of  them  were  made  by  Mr.  Brady,  but  it  is  possible  that  in  that 
respect  some  of  them  were  made  by  his  chief  clerk — as  applicable  to 
their  134  contracts  during  the  year  1878  alone  (the  contracts  did  not 
take  effect  until  the  1st  of  July,  1878),  66  separate  orders  increasing  the 
pay  of  these  defendants.  In  the  year  1879  there  were  made  72  more 
orders  increasing  the  pay  of  these  defendants.  Those  are  the  two  first 
years,  or  the  first  year  and  a  half,  of  their  contracts. 


59 

There  are,  gentlemen,  one  or  two  other  things  to  which  I  may  as  well 
call  your  attention  before  I  pass  from  this  branch  of  the  case,  as  indi- 
cating acts  of  these  defendants  showing  that  they  were  engaged  in 
some  disreputable  proceedings  in  connection  with  the  department. 

On  route  44160,  from  Canyon  City  to  Fort  McDermott :  On  the  15th 
of  April,  1881,  John  E.  Miner,  one  of  these  defendants,  wrote  a  letter, 
which  letter  was  upon  the  paper  of  uThe  Northern  Overland  Mail 
Company,"  or  something  of  that  sort,  which  described  another  of  these 
defendants,  Mr.  Vaile,  as  the^president,  and  Mr.  Miner  as  its  secretary  f 
which  letter,  in  substance,  says  that  "he  finds  out  by  accident  that  one 
S.  H.  Abbott,  "  who  was  postmaster  at  a  little  place  on  that  route  called 
Alvord,"  has  written  to  the  department  that  you  do  not  pay  your  bills, 
and  that  there  is  no  use  of  having  a  weekly  mail."  Now  that  was  on, 
the  route  where  they  ran  it  up  from  one  trip  a  week  at  $2,888,  and  it 
went  to  six  trips  a  week  at  $50,166,  and  here  was  this  postmaster  writ- 
ing that  there  was  no  necessity  for  anything  more  than  a  mail  once  a 
week.  That  letter,  Miner  says,  was  sent  by  the  postmaster  at  Alvord  to 
the  department.  Miner  knew  of  that  letter.  That  letter  has  disappeared 
from  the  files  of  the  department.  There  is  no  evidence  in  the  depart- 
ment that  the  letter  ever  was  there.  Our  only  knowledge  of  it  is  from, 
the  letter  of  Miner,  which  we  shall  put  before  you.  What  does  Mr. 
Miner  say  f  "  I  want  to  have  you  see  this  man  and  pay  him.  Give  him 
what  is  necessary  to  shut  his  mouth.  We  do  not  want  him  to  write  any 
more  such  letters  to  the  department.  We  have  got  $50,000  on  a  route 
which  we  bid  for  at  $2,800,  and  we  don't  want  any  postmaster  oat  there 
writing  that  it  is  not  necessary.  It  is  an  inconvenient  document  to 
have  on  the  files  of  the  department.  Somebody  may  find  it."  This  is 
the  substance  of  the  letter.  I  cannot  read  the  letter  at  this  stage. 

Mr.  HENKLE.  Do  you  pretend  to  say  that  is  the  substance  of  the 
letter? 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  pretend  to  say  that  is  the  purport  of  the  letter.  I  will 
read  the  letter  if  you  have  no  objection  to  my  reading  it. 

Mr.  HENKLE.  I  have  no  objection  to  that. 

Mr.  BLISS.  [Reading:] 

I  wish  you  would  see  this  man  at  once,  and  satisfy  him.  Pay  him  whatever  is  rea- 
sonable, and  report  to  R.  C.  Williamson  at  The  Dalles. 

E.  C.  Williamson  was  the  superintendent  of  Vaile,  Miner  &  Company. 
I  suppose  that  is  what  he  is  after.     He  knows  nothing  of  the  through  mail 

Of  course  he  did  rot  know  anything  about  that.  The  evidence  was 
that  only  ten  or  twelve  pounds  went  over  that  route,  and  there  was  no 
through  mail. 

and  probably  a  weekly  is  all  he  needs;  but  more  likely  he  wants  some  money.  He 
complained  once  before  to  the  department  that  he  had  to  make  a  special  trip  to  Camp 
McDermott  to  make  his  returns. 

They  did  not  perform  the  service,  and  in  order  to  make  his  quarterly 
returns  to  the  department,  which  he  ought  to  have  been  able  to  put  in 
the  mail  at  his  own  office  and  send  to  the  department,  he  had  to  make 
a  journey  to  Fort  McDermott  to  get  his  own  ofiicial  letter  in  the  mail. 

He  complained  once  before  to  the  department  that  he  had  to  make  a  special  trip 
to  Camp  McDermott  to  make  his  returns,  and  I  sent  him  $30,  and  it  was  all  right. 
Now  I  suppose  he  wants  a  little  more  money. 

Here  was  this  postmaster  writing  that  a  weekly  mail  was  all  that  was 
needed.  What  harm  was  he  doing  to  them?  Why  was  it  necessary  to 
do  anything  with  him  to  make  it  "all  right,"  if  it  was  not  the  desire  to 


60 

shut  up  his  mouth  f    That  was  all  there  was  to  it  and  all  there  could 
be  to  it. 

But  that  transaction  does  not  stand  alone,  gentlemen.  There  was  a 
Mr.  Johnson,  who  was  a  subcontractor  out  in  Utah.  We  shall  place 
him  before  you,  and  you  will  believe  every  word  that  he  says.  He  car- 
ries honesty  and  truth  upon  his  face.  There  had  been  a  change  made 
on  a  route,  running  the  speed  up  beyond  what  the  people  in  the  locality 
and  Mr.  Johnson,  the  subcontractor,  thou^dat  was  necessary.  He  wrote 
to  the  department  complaining,  and  thereirpon  one  of  these  defendants 
wrote  him  that  they  had  concluded  voluntarily  to  increase  his  pay  some- 
thing like  $2,000  a  year,  but  that  they  wanted  him  to  stop  writing  to 
the  department;  that  he  had  been  complaining  to  the  department  about 
the  matter,  and  that  they  wanted  him  to  stop,  and  wanted  him  also  to 
write  to  his  Delegate  in  Congress  and  beg  the  Delegate  to  withdraw  cer- 
tain papers  he  had  placed  on  file.  They  wrote  two  letters  to  Mr.  John- 
son to  that  effect.  Mr.  Johnson  got  his  $2,000,  and  somehow  or  other 
those  papers,  which  it  appears  of  record  the  Delegate  had  placed  upon 
the  files  of  the  department,  have  disappeared  from  those  files. 

This  being  the  condition  of  things,  what  do  we  find  in  another  point 
of  view!  I  desire  now  to  refer  to  a  subject  which  I  have  already 
touched  upon  to  some  extent.  It  may  be  supposed,  or  it  may  be 
claimed,  perhaps,  that  although  Brady  made  these  excessive  allow- 
ances to  which  I  have  called  your  attention,  yet  the  money  was  appro- 
priated to  carry  the  mail,  and  that  it  was  paid  for  carrying  the  mail, 
and  so  there  ought  not  to  be  any  particular  objection  to  it.  We 
shall  show  you  upon  the  Kearney  and  Kent  route  that  while  the  con- 
tractor got  $2,715.08  for  sitting  in  Washington  and  doing  nothing,  the 
subcontractor,  who  did  the  service,  got  only  $1,587.40;  that  on  the 
Pueblo  and  Eosita  route  the  contractor  who  sat  still  in  Washington  got 
$5,048,  the  subcontractor  got  $3,100,  and  he  had  so  good  a  thing  of  it 
that  he  got  somebody  else  to  carry  the  mail  at  $2,000.  You  will  bear 
in  mind  in  all  cases  that  the  contractor  here  in  Washington  got  his 
money  net  and  clear,  and  that  it  was  the  subcontractor  who  had  to  pay 
all  fines  and  deductions,  and  that  the  sole  interest  of  these  contractors 
here  in  Washington,  so  far  as  the  question  of  fines  and  deductions  is 
concerned,  was  that  the  fines  and  deductions  should  not  be  so  great  as 
to  more  than  exhaust  the  money  that  went  to  the  subcontractor.  We 
shall  show  you  in  one  case  a  feeling  remonstrance  from  Mr.  S.  W.  Dor 
sey  to  a  subcontractor  that  if  he  did  not  look  out  he  would  subject  him- 
self to  so  many  fines  that  he  would  not  only  lose  all  his  money,  but 
actually  affect  the  money  coming  to  the  contractors  here  in  Washing- 
ton, and  that  would  be  an  outrage  that  ought  not  to  be  endured  for  a 
moment! 

On  the  route  from  Saint  Charles  to  Greenhorn,  Mr.  John  K.  Miner,  as 
contractor  here  in  Washington,  got  $3,945.60.  He  made  a  contract 
with  a  Mr.  Farrish  to  carry  the  mail  for  $840.  When  Mr.  Farrish  gave 
it  up  he  made  another  contract  with  Mr.  McDaniel  to  carry  it  for  $900, 
and  he  performed  all  the  service  for  $900,  and  Miner  got  $3,045  net. 
On  the  Toquerville  and  Adairville  route — which,  by  the  way,  is  the 
route  as  to  which  Mr.  John  W.  Dorsey  writing  to  the  subcontractor 
with  reference  to  the  arrangement  he  had  made  with  him,  told  him 
that  that  was  nearer  pro  rata  than  any  trade  he  had  made  since  he 
left  Washington — the  contractor  got  $12,450.22  for  doing  nothing,  and 
the  subcontractor  who  did  the  work  got  only  $8,444.  On  route  38140, 
from  Trinidad  to  Madison,  the  contractor  got  $2,402.25  for  doing  noth- 
ing, and  the  subcontractor  got  $1,550  for  carrying  the  mail — not  out  of 


61 

the  $2,400.  You  will  bear  in  mind  that  the  sums  received  by  the  con- 
tractors are  over  and  above  what  they  paid  to  the  subcontractors. 

On  route  38156,  from  Silverton  to  Parrott  City,  the  subcontractor  who 
did  the  work  got  $9,400,  and  the  contractor  here  in  'Washington  got 
$7,112.20.  On  route  38145,  from  Garland  to  Parrott  City,  at  one  time 
the  contractor  got  $5,438.08,  and  the  subcontractor  who  did  the  work  got 
$8,000.  At  another  time  the  subcontractor  got  only  $6,200.  Subse- 
quently the  contractor  got  $7,244.08  net,  and  was  kind  enough  to  allow 
the  subcontractor  $10,666.f  4.  In  that  case  the  whole  record  is  set  out  in 
Mr.  Brady's  order.  It  is  there  recited  that  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment ought  to  pay  a  certain  additional  amount  for  carrying  the  mail,  and 
then  he  followed  it  up,  as  he  had  to  follow  it  up — for  the  subcontract 
was  on  file — by  saying  he  would  pay  only  about  one-half  of  the  amount  to 
the  man  who  actually  carried  the  mail.  The  balance,  he  said,  was  nec- 
essary for  payment  to  a  man  who  sat  here  in  Washington  and  did  not 
do  anything — for  this  was  the  effect  of  his  declaration. 

On  the  route  from  Eawlings  to  White  Elver,  No.  38113,  the  con- 
tractor at  one  time  got  $13,706.25  net,  and  the  subcontractor,  who  did 
the  work,  got  only  $5,100.  The  contractor  got  an  excess  of  $8,606.25 
for  doing  nothing.  At  a  later  stage  the  subcontractor  got  $10,000  out 
of  $13,706.25,  and  he  will  tell  you  that  that  $10,000  paid  him  handsomely 
for  carrying  the  mail.  At  a  later  stage,  on  the  same  route,  $31,981.25 
was  paid  by  the  Government,  of  which  the  subcontractor  got  $22,333.37, 
and  the  contractor,  who  did  nothing,  $8,647.92.  Mr.  Eerdell,  in  commu- 
nicating to  that  subcontractor  the  fact  that  he  was  to  be  allowed 
$23,333,  while  the  defendants  kept  $8,600  additional,  wound  up  his  letter 
by  a  suggestion  that  the  subcontractor  had  got  a  good  thing,  and  he 
wanted  him  to  understand  that  he,  Eerdell,  had  obtained  it  for  him,  and 
insinuated  that  if  anybody  was  to  be  compensated,  he  wanted  the  sub- 
contractor to  remember  that  the  credit  was  due  to  him.  Mr.  Eerdell 
carefully  avoided  saying  anything  about  the  fact  that  he  and  the  other 
people  whom  he  represented  here  in  Washington  were  making  out  of 
the  contract  $8,647.92.  On  the  route  from  The  Dalles  to  Baker  City 
the  contractor  at  one  time  got  $21,460,  and  the  subcontractor- got  $7,400, 
leaving  the  contractor  an  excess  of  $14,060.  On  route  44160  the  sub- 
contractors got  $10,000,  and  the  contractor  got  $40,166.66.  The  subcon- 
tractors got  $10,000,  to  be  divided  between  two,  or  $5,000  apiece.  Yaile, 
who  was  the  contractor,  got  $50,166.66,  giving  them  $10,000.  Where 
did  the  odd  $40,000  go?  On  the  route  from  Eeddiug  to  Alturas,  the 
contractor  got  $17,964,  and  the  subcontractor  $10,500  of  that.  I  think 
that  was  clone-under  an  order  not  signed  by  Mr.  Brady,  but  signed  by 
his  chief  clerk. 

Now,  gentlemen,  what  was  the  result  to  the  Government  and  to  these 
defendants  of  all  this  series  of  orders  made  by  Brady  for  their  benefit  ? 
There  were,  at  the  end  of  1880,  9,225  star  routes  in  the  country.  They 
had  an  aggregate  length  of  215,480  miles.  They  cost  $6,401,000.84  to 
the  Government  annually.  This  was  the  service  upon  which  Brady 
operated  with  his  orders  for  increase  of  trips  and  increase  of  speed. 
From  January  1st,  1872,  to  June  30,  1875,  under  Eoutt,  as  Second  As- 
sistant Postmaster-General,  three  years  and  six  mouths,  I  have  already 
called  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  there  were  only  fifteen  orders  for 
expedition.  The  amount  allowed  under  those  fifteen  orders  was 
$144,729.83.  Under  Tyner,  in  a  year— from  June  30,  1875,  to  June 
30,  1876 — there  were  five  orders  for  expedition,  and  an  aggregate 
allowance  of  $12,620.60.  Brady  came  into  office  on  the  23d  of  July, 
1876,  and  down  to  the  year  ending  June  30,  1877,  twenty-three  days 


62 

less  than  a  year,  he  made  thirteen  orders  for  expedition,  covering 
$158,418.59,  being  nearly  $15,000  more  than  Routt  had  ordered  in  his 
entire  three  years  and  a  half.  For  the  year  ending  June  30,  1878, 
Mr.  Brady's  second  year,  he  ordered  expedition  to  the  extent  of  only 
$27,923.  For  the  year  ending  June  30,  1879,  Mr.  Brady  had  seventy 
cases  of  expedition,  and  made  orders  which  took  from  the  Treasury  an- 
nually $905,912.91,  and  those  orders  were  made  with  reference  to  routes 
as  to  which  the  existing  pay  before  he  commenced  to  operate  upon  them 
was  only  $588,150.13.  In  other  words,  to  $588,000  he  added  over 
$900,000.  For  the  year  ending  June  30,  1880,  Mr.  Brady  made  twenty- 
five  orders  for  expedition,  and  by  those  orders  he  added  to  the  money 
taken  from  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  $307,426.84  a  year,  and 
added  it  upon  routes  upon  which  the  existing  pay  was  only  $107,974.22 
to  April  30,  1881.  The  balance  of  the  year  before  he  went  out,  being 
two  months  less  than  a  year,  he  made  nine  orders  for  expedition,  which 
cover  only  $13,749.46.  You  will  perceive,  gentlemen,  that  by  that  time 
the  material  upon  which  orders  for  expedition  could  fairly  operate  was 
pretty  well  worked  out.  The  contracts  in  the  Pacific  section — and  it  is 
in  that  section  I  ought  to  say  that  all  the  orders  for  expedition  were 
made,  except  a  single  one  on  a  route  in  North  Carolina — had  been  ex- 
hausted by  the  prior  orders  for  expedition.  The  routes  were  let  in  July, 
1878,  and  the  contracts  were  to  expire  in  June,  1882,  and  there  was  very 
little  room  for  further  expedition.  So  we  find  that  when  Mr.  Brady's 
career  was  cut  off  on  the  30th  of  April,  1881,  he  had  only  been  able  in 
the  last  ten  months  to  make  nine  cases  of  expedition,  and  those  for  the 
trivial  sum,  according  to  his  idea,  of  $13,749.46.  Brady,  in  four  years 
nine  months  and  seven  days,  made  one  hundred  and  twenty  orders  of 
expedition,  by  which  he  added  to  contracts  made  after  public  bidding, 
which  called  for  $907,780.45,  the  sum  of  $2,321,211.25.  By  public  bid- 
ding, bidders  said  they  would  carry  the  mail  over  those  routes  for 
$907,780.45,  and  Mr.  Brady,  by  secret  arrangements  made  in  his  office, 
gave  to  those  bidders  $2,321,211.25  in  one  year. 

Mr.  WILSON.  May  it  please  your  honor,  I  desire  to  inquire  whether 
it  is  proper,  in  the  opening  statement  of  this  case  to  the  jury,  to  make 
statements  with  reference  to  matters  that  are  in  no  way  whatever  con- 
nected with  this  indictment,  not  mentioned  in  the  indictment,  and  not 
competent  as  evidence  on  the  trial  of  this  case.  I  make  the  inquiry  at 
this  stage  of  the  case  in  order  that  there  may  be  no  misapprehension  as 
to  the  character  of  the  opening  that  may  be  made  on  behalf  of  the  de- 
fendants. I  do  not  want  to  have  it  transpire  in  this  case,  as  it  did  in 
the  other  trial,  that  when  the  defense  come  to  state  the  facts,  and  come 
to  point  out  to  the  jury  the  misrepresentation  of  the  facts,  that  we  shall 
be  interrupted  by  anybody  by  saying,  in  the  way  of  objection,  that  we 
are  stating  matters  not  pertinent  to  the  case.  I  make  the  point  right 
here,  if  your  honor  please,  because  the  counsel  for  the  Government  is 
now  stating  to  this  jury  matters  that  are  absolutely  disconnected  with 
this  case,  matters  which  have  not  the  slightest  relation  to  this  case,  and 
as  to  every  one  of  which,  if  they  were  before  the  court,  we  would  have 
an  opportunity  to  make  answer.  Mr.  Bliss  is  going  wholly  outside  of 
this  indictment,  and  stating  that  which  I  say,  on  my  own  responsibility, 
is  a  misrepresentation  of  the  truth  of  this  matter.  I  want  now  not  to 
stop  him,  but  I  do  not  want  the  court  to  stop  us  when  our  time  comes 
to  tell  this  jury  the  truth  about  this  case.  Now  the  court,  thus  having 
had  its  attention  called  to  the  matter- 

The  COURT.  [Interposing.]  What  particular  part  of  the  opening  of 
Mr.  Bliss  do  you  object  to? 


63 

Mr.  BLISS.  Your  honor  will  bear  in  mind  that  Mr.  Wilson  did  this 
precise  thing  on  the  previous  trial  in  almost  the  same  language  at  this 
point  in  my  opening. 

Mr.  WILSON.  I  have  the  floor  for  the  present.  Mr.  Bliss  is  stating  as 
to  expeditions  and  increases  of  service  that  were  made  during  the 
administration  of  the  office  of  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General, 
by  General  Brady,  with  reference  to  routes  that  are  in  no  way  con- 
nected with  this  transaction.  Now  if  they  are  in  issue  in  this  case  let 
Mm  go  on  ;  but  do  not  stop  us  when  we  come  to  reply  to  them.  And  if 
your  honor  please,  if  it  comes  to  that,  we  shall  claim  the  right  in  the 
progress  of  this  case  to  take  up  every  one  of  these  routes  that  was  ex- 
pedited or  increased  during  the  time  that  General  Brady  was  in  office, 
and  we  shall  claim  the  right  to  show  to  this  court  and  to  this  jury  that 
in  not  a  single  one  of  them  did  he  ever  make  an  increase  or  an  expedi- 
tion that  was  not  clamored  for  by  the  best  men  in  this  country.  Now,  if 
it  is  proper  to  state  this  to  the  jury,  it  is  proper  to  answer  it.  If  it  is 
proper  to  state  it  to  the  jury,  it  is  proper  for  them  to  prove  it.  If  it  is 
proper  for  them  to  prove  it,  it  is  proper  for  us  to  meet  it  with  counter- 
proof.  If  it  has  no  relation  to  the  case,  so  be  it.  I  am  not  asking  to  have 
it  stopped,  but  I  do  want  to  notify  the  court  that  if  he  goes  into  this 
thing  we  shall  claim  the  right  to  meet  it  if  it  takes  until  the  1st  of  Jan- 
uary a  year  hence. 

The  COURT.  Then  I  do  not  understand  you  to  object. 

Mr.  WILSON.  I  am  simply  giving  the  court  notice  that  he  is  going  be- 
yond the  case  and  has  been  doing  so,  as  my  associate  says,  for  some 
time.  I  have  not  been  here.  I  happened  to  come  in  just  now  and  heard 
him  stating  these  things  to  the  jury,  which  are  as  foreign  to  this  case  as 
the  south  to  the  north  pole. 

The  COURT.  I  accept  your  notice. 

Mr.  WILSON.  Very  well ;  that  is  enough. 

Mr.  BLISS.  Your  honor,  I  presume  it  is  necessary  that  this  trial  should  * 
proceed  in  the  same  way  that  the  other  did. 

Mr.  WILSON.  No,  sir. 

The  COURT.  I  do  not  mean  to  adopt  that  rule. 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  simply  want  to  say  that  at  just  about  this  stage  in  my 
opening  before,  Mr.  Wilson  gave,  nominally  for  the  benefit  of  the  court, 
but  really  for  the  benefit  of  .the  jury,  precisely  the  same  notice.  We 
will  accept  it  and  I  will  proceed. 

Mr.  CHANDLER.  If  your  honor  please,  I  do  formally  object  to  any  state- 
ment of  expedition  on  any  route  not  mentioned  in  this  indictment.  Mr. 
Bliss  is  going  over  what  he  calls  a  hundred  and  twenty  expeditions  and 
increases  of  service.  There  are  only  nineteen  mentioned  in  the  indict- 
ment, and  I  now  formally  object  to  his  saying  anything 

The  COURT.  [Interrupting.]  I  do  not  understand  him  to  be  going  over 
them  seriatim. 

Mr.  CHANDLER.  But  he  is  charging  official  perfidy  and  corruption 
concerning  the  whole  hundred  and  twenty.  They  are  brought  in  here 
for  some  purpose.  They  arc  either  to  be  investigated,  or  they  are 
brought  here  to  prejudice  the  minds  of  the  jury  touching  the  nineteen 
at  issue.  Is  that  the  proper  way  !  Has  he  a  right  to  undertake  to  bring 
matters  in  for  this  purpose  if  he  does  not  expect  to  offer  any  proof  about 
them? 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  do  expect  to  offer  proof  about  them. 

Mr.  CHANDLER.  About  routes  not  mentioned  in  the  indictment? 

Mr.  BLISS.  If  you  will  allow  me,  I  will  state  that  I  expect  to  offer 
proof  to  this  extent :  It  may  be  claimed  that  Mr.  Brady,  in  making  these 


64 

orders  for  expedition,  simply  followed  the  current  practice  of  the  de- 
partment and  went  on  in  that  way.  I  propose  to  ask  the  court  to  let 
me  show  this  jury  that  Mr.  Brady  was  not  following  the  practice  of  the 
department,  but  was  introducing  a  new  and  exceptional  system. 

Mr.  WILSON.  If  your  honor  please,  I  want  to  say  a  word  in  reply  to 
that.  Mr.  Bliss  has  been  talking  to  this  jury  about  all  these  expeditions. 
If  the  court  permits  this  to  go  on,  I  shall  claim  the  right,  in  behalf  of 
the  defendants,  not  only  to  talk  of  it  to  the  jury  but  to  prove  the  fact. 
I  shall  claim  the  right  to  prove  that  one  of  these  very  routes  that  he  is 
talking  about  here;  the  largest,  not  only  in  this  country,  but  in  the 
world ;  a  route  fifteen  hundred  miles  long,  was  expedited  by  the  Post- 
master-General himself,  over  the  opposition  of  General  Brady.  I  shall 
claim  the  right  not  only  to  state  to  the  jury,  but  to  prove,  that  what 
General  Brady  did  was  done  after  consultation  with  the  Postmaster- 
General 

Mr.  BLISS.  [Interposing.]  I  submit,  your  honor,  that  that  is  not  proper. 

Mr.  WILSON.  I  beg  your  pardon.    I  have  the  floor. 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  have  a  right  to  object. 

The  COURT.  Yes. 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  submit  that  it  is  not  proper  for  Mr.  Wilson,  in  making 
an  objection,  to  interject  a  speech  of  this  kind. 

The  COURT.  [To  Mr.  Wilson.]  I  think  you  and  Colonel  Bliss  are  about 
square  now.  You  have  given  notice. 

Mr.  BLISS.  That  is  what  I  think. 

Mr.  WILSON.  But,  your  honor 

Mr.  BLISS.  [Interposing.]  Your  honor,  Mr.  Wilson  wants  to  make  an 
argument  in  my  place. 

Mr.  WILSON.  I  do  not  want  to  do  so. 

The  COURT.  In  making  an  objection  you  have  no  right  to  make  an 
argument  against  his  opening.  You  may  object  to  any  particular  part 
of  his  opening,  and  the  court  will  rule  upon  the  objection.  Unless  there 
is  a  specific  objection,  however,  the  court  will  take  no  notice  of  it.  I 
understood  you  as  merely  giving  notice  that  you  would  claim  the  same 
extent  of  privilege  that  he  has  claimed. 

Mr.  WILSON.  Yes,  but 

The  COURT.  [Interposing.]  And  that  you  waive  all  objection  to  the 
character  of  the  opening  now  being  made. 

Mr.  WILSON.  But  if  your  honor  will  pardon  me 

The  COURT.  [Interposing.]    I  cannot  permit  an  argument  here. 

Mr.  WILSON.  I  will  not  make  one,  your  honor. 

The  COURT.  You  may  make  a  specific  objection  if  you  choose  to  do 
so. 

Mr.  WILSON.  1  will  simply  say  this :  that  after  I  had  given  this  notice 
Colonel  Bliss  stated  to  the  court,  as  I  understood  it,  that  he  would  offer 
to  prove  these  things  in  a  general  way. 

The  COURT.  If  you  make  that  formal  objection  to  his  opening  I  shall 
sustain  it.  But  there  is  a  class  of  evidence  in  regard  to  crime  that  par- 
takes of  a  fraudulent  character  which,  although  not  particularly  pointed 
to  in  the  indictment,  is  yet  admissible  to  show  the  corrupt  purposes  of 
the  defendant.  And  this  evidence  may  relate  to  other  acts  of  the  de- 
fendants than  those  specified  in  the  indictment.  There  is  a  class  of 
evidence  of  that  kind,  and  I  understood  the  opening  of  Mr.  Bliss  so  far 
to  refer  to  cases  of  that  kind.  Now,  whether  the  court  will  admit  evi- 
dence of  that  kind  when  it  comes  to  be  offered,  the  court  does  not  wish 
to  prejudge  and  will  not  prejudge.  But  counsel  have  their  own  theory 


65 

in  regard  to  their  case,  and  they  have  a  right  to  present  it  to  the  jury 
and  state  the  evidence  upon  which  they  expect  to  sustain  it. 

Mr.  WILSON.  I  quite  agree  with  the  court 

The  COURT.  [Interposing.]  The  court  cannot  permit  the  discussion  of 
the  admissibility  of  evidence  to  take  place  on  an  interruption  of  an 
opening. 

Mr.  WILSON.  I  agree  with  your  honor  entirely  that  this  is  not  *he 
time  to  settle  what  is  competent  or  what  is  incompetent  evidence.  But 
there  is  another  class  of  evidence  that  is  likewise  admissible,  if  your 
honor  please,  and  that  is  evidence  to  show  the  motive  of  the  party  who 
is  accused,  as  in  this  case.  That  evidence  would  be  such  evidence  as 
would  show  tbat  the  head  of  the  department  was 

Mr.  BLISS.  [Interposing.]  I  object,  your  honor,  to  the  introduction 
here  of  an  argument  in  that  direction. 

The  COURT.  Very  well.  You  can  go  on,  Mr.  Bliss,  in  your  own  way. 
I  cannot  pass  upon  the  question  of  the  admissibility  of  the  evidence  at 
this  point. 

Mr.  WILSON.  So  that  he  can  go  on  without  restriction  and  the  same 
privilege  is  accorded  to  us. 

The  COURT.  I  do  not  say  without  restriction  at  all. 

Mr.  DAVIDGE.  I  simply  wish  to  ask  the  court's  ruling.  I  object  to 
anything  in  the  opening  as  to  any  route  not  mentioned  in  the  indictment. 

The  COURT.  I  shall  overrule  that  objection. 

Mr.  HENKLE.  I  understood  your  honor  to  say  at  the  former  inter- 
ruption of  my  colleague,  that  the  theory  entertained  by  the  counsel  may 
be  presented  without  reference  to  any  rulings  made  by  the  court  at  the 
former  trial. 

The  COURT.  Why,  certainty ;  and  if  the  court  should  be  convinced 
in  the  course  of  this  trial  that  there  were  any  errors  committed  on  the 
former  trial  one  way  or  the  other  it  is  not  going  to  be  bound  by  the  rules 
laid  down  in  the  other  case  from  any  sense  of  pride. 

Mr.  HENKLE.  Then,  in  our  theory  of  the  case  we  may  be  permitted  to 
state  outside  without  regard  to  any  ruling  of  the  court  in  the  former 
trial. 

The  COURT.  I  have  repeatedly  said  that.  I  do  not  wish  to  be  restricted 
at  all  to  the  rulings  made  on  the  former  trial. 

Mr.  BLISS.  With  reference  to  these  constant  references  to  the  former 
trial  I  respectfully  submit  that  they  are  all  improper  and  that  there  are 
cases  where  what  has  been  done  on  a  former  trial  being  referred  to  was 
held  to  vitiate  what  is  done  at  the  next  one  ;  we  have  refrained  carefully 
from  stating  anything  as  to  the  former  trial.  A  reference. to  that  has 
not  passed  my  lips,  I  think,  in  this  case. 

The  COURT.  1  understand  the  reference  to  the  rulings  made  on  the 
former  trial  to  be  made  merely  to  the  rulings  of  the  court,  and  for  the 
purpose  of  ascertaining  the  ruling  of  the  court  upon  the  rulings  in  point; 
and  in  answer  to  that  I  am  prepared  to  follow  the  lights  I  may  have  in 
this  case.  The  court  cannot  forget  the  rulings  in  the  former  case;  but 
it  will  not  follow  those  rulings,  simply  because  they  are  rulings,  or  have 
been  rulings,  but  will  follow  them  if  they  are  deemed  in  this  case  to  be 
proper,  and  will  not  follow  them  if  it  thinks  they  ought  not  to  be  fol- 
lowed. 

Mr.  BLISS.  [Eesuming.]  Taking,  gentlemen,  the  star  service  west  of 
the  Mississippi  River,  Mr.  Brady  came  into  office  on  the  23d  of  July, 
1876.  On  the  1st  of  July,  1878,  after  he  had  been  nearly  two  years  in 
office — and  I  start  from  that  period  simply  because  it  happens  to  be  a 
little  more  convenient  for  me  in  getting  the  figures,  and  the  defendants 

5GB 


66 

then  began  these  contracts — after  he  had  during  those  two  years  prior 
to  July,  1878,  added  about  $800,000  to  the  expense  of  the*  star-route 
service  west  of  the  Mississippi,  either  by  increase  of  trips  or  by  expedi- 
tion, the  aggregate  cost  of  that  star-route  service  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
on  the  1st  of  July,  1878,  was  about  $2,000,000.  On  tbe  1st  of  July,  1879, 
under  Mr.  Brady,  that  cost  had  been  increased  to  $3,706,977.  To  an 
aggregate  cost  of  two  millions  he  had  in  the  brief  period  of  a  year  added 
$1,700,000 ;  and  the  preceding  Congress  having  appropriated  every  dol- 
lar that  was  asked  for  in  the  estimates  of  the  Post-Office  Department, 
which  estimates  were  made  by  Mr.  Brady,  having  however  cut  down 
all  other  appropriations,  but  made  all  the  appropriations  that  Mr.  Brady 
asked  for,  for  the  star  service,  Mr.  Brady  was  compelled  to  go  to  Con- 
gress and  ask  Congress  to  make  an  additional  appropriation  of  $2,000,000 
to  meet  the  deficiency  over  and  above  his  own  estimates,  which  he  had 
created  by  his  career  of  extravagance  and  corruption  during  that  brief 
year.  He  got  from  Congress  $1,250,000,  and  it  may  in  the  course  of 
this  trial  incidentally  come  in  play  to  show  3^011  some  features  of  the 
manner  in  which  he  got  it. 

Mr.  DAViDGrE.  Well,  now,  I  do  not  like  to  interrupt  the  opening  of 
counsel,  but  is  there  any  human  being  on  earth  who  will  pretend  that 
a  statement  of  that  sort  is  pertinent  ? 

Mr.  BLISS.  What  do  you  mean  ;  about  Congress  ? 

Mr.  DAVIDGKE.  I  mean  the  remark  that  you  may  have  occasion  to 
point  out  some  of  the  means  whereby  he  obtained  an  appropriation  of 
Congress.  Now,  is  not  that  a  plain,  patent  abuse  ? 

The  COURT.  I  do  not  know.     I  cannot  tell  what  he  is  going  to  say. 

Mr.  BLISS.  Let  me  remind  your  honor  that  on  the  last  trial  a  wit- 
ness on  the  stand 

Mr.  DAVIDGE.  [Interposing.]  I  thought  you  had  not  referred  to  that 
trial. 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  have  not  previously ;  I  said  I  had  not.  There  was  a 
witness  who  referred  to  a  conversation  with  Mr.  Brady,  which  your 
honor  directly  ruled  in  as  applicable  to  this  case.  That  was  what  I 
meant  might  come  in  play. 

Mr.  DAVIDGKE.  I  want  to  say  a  very  words,  your  honor,  and  I  think 
you  will  concur  with  rne.  I  know  that  astute  and  adroit  men  can  do  a 
great  many  things  under  the  guise  of  opening  a  case  which  ought  not 
to  be  done.  I  know  that  the  subject  is  one  of  extreme  delicacy  on  the 
part  of  the  court,  as  you  have  intimated  to-day.  It  is  not  for  you  to 
say  what  theory  may  be  entertained  in  respect  of  any  trial  over  which 
you  may  preside,  and  hence  a  very  wide  range  must  in  the  nature  of 
things  be  allowed  to  counsel.  Now,  personally,  I  have  no  particular  ob- 
jection to  the  ruling,  if  it  may  be  so  called,  that  fell  from  your  honor  a 
little  while  ago.  All  that  we  ask  is  that  you  will  pay  especial  attention 
to  the  range  of  the  opening  on  the  part  of  the  Government,  and  to  the 
fact  that  repeatedly,  a  score  of  times,  this  opening  has  been  devoted 
not  to  the  statement  of  what  the  Government  expects  to  prove  at  all, 
but  to  an  argument  upon  what  it  is  anticipated  will  be  proved  on  that 
side  and  any  defense  that  is  anticipated  on  the  other  side.  In  other 
words,  it  is  obnoxious  and  objectionable,  both  as  to  its  range  and  as  to 
its  being  argumentative.  All  that  I  have  to  say  therefore  is  that  I  ask 
that  your  honor's  attention  be  directed  to  the  wide  range  in  respect  of 
what  the  Government  undertakes  to  prove  and  in  respect  of  the  argu- 
ment, and  that  you  will  allow  the  same  liberality  to  the  counsel  for  the 
defense,  as  1  feel  sure  you  will  do  and  must  do. 

The  COURT.  Oh,  well,  the  court  cannot  make  any  promises. 


67 

Mr.  DAViDGrE.  I  do  not  want  any  promise  except  the  promise  that  is 
implied  from  the  fact  that  your  honor  is  listening  to  the  character  of  the 
opening  on  the  part  of  the  Government. 

The  COURT.  I  am  listening.  '  , 

Mr.  DAVIDGKE.  It  very  often  happens,  as  your  honor  is  aware,  that 
the  opening  is  left  exclusively  to  the  counsel,  and  the  judge  afterwards 
says  that  if  his  attention  had  been  drawn  to  it  he  would  have  stopped 
the  counsel.  We  at  least  ask  the  attention  of  your  honor  to  the  point 
and  to  appreciate  its  character. 

The  COURT.  I  am  listening. 

Mr.  BLISS.  One  of  their  difficulties  in  this  case  is  that  other  people 
than  counsel  are  listening. 

[Resuming.]  On  the  1st  of  January,  1880,  the  aggregate  cost  of  the 
star  service  of  the  country  was  $7,264,832.  Mr.  Brady  ceased  to  be  Sec- 
ond Assistant  Postmaster-General  on  the  30th  of  April,  1881.  On  the 
30th  of  June,  1882,  the  cost  of  that  service  had  been  reduced  to 
$5,553,849.  On  the  1st  of  July  there  came  the  new  letting  of  that 
service  which  had  expired  on  the  30th  of  June,  1882,  being  the  Pacific 
section  upon  which  it  had  chiefly  operated,  and  then  the  service  was 
still  further  reduced  to  $4.486,755,  a  service  which  under  Brady  had 
cost  $7,104,832  was  reduced  on  the  1st  of  July  to  $4,486,75  ~>.  One  mill- 
ion seven  hundred  and  seventy- eight  thousand  dollars  was  saved 

Mr.  WILSON.  One  moment.  I  want  to  interrupt  you.  I  wish  now 
to  understand  whether  or  not  it  is  proper  in  this  case  to  institute  a 
comparison  between  one  contract  term  and  another  contract  term. 
That  is  to  say,  I  wish  to  know  whether  it  is  proper  for  counsel  to  be 
stating  to  the  jury  a  matter  of  that  sort  when  the  star  routes  are  con- 
tinually changing,  when  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  miles  of  service  are 
taken  out  of  the  star  service  and  become  railroad  service  ?  Therefore, 
as  between  one  contract  term  and  another  contract  term,  there  can  be 
no  possible  similarity.  I  wish  to  know  whether  that  is  a  proper  mat- 
ter to  be  stated  to  the  jury.  If  the  court  thinks  it  is,  all  right.  And  I 
wish  to  know,  in  addition  to  that,  whether  or  not  it  is  proper  to  com- 
pare the  expenses  of  routes,  because  if  it  is,  then  we  want  to  have  the 
privilege  of  stating  to  the  jury  the  exact  facts  in  regard  to  these  cases. 
Now,  if  it  is  proper  to  go  into  this  wide  range  and  to  cover  the  whole 
country  we  want  to  know  it.  If  the  court  says  that  I  may  go  on 

The  COURT.  [Interposing.]  Do  you  make  an  objection  ? 

Mr.  WILSON.  I  renew  the  objection  made  by  Mr.  Chandler  that  the 
counsel  is  not  confining  himself  to  the  case  that  is  made  by  this  indict- 
ment. I  make  the  objection  because  he  is  making  a  statement  that 
can  have  no  other  effect  or  purpose  than  to  mislead  this  jury.  1  make 
that  objection  now,  if  your  honor  please,  so  that  when  we  <  ome  to  re- 
ply to  that  there  may  be  no  objection  to  the  reply.  And  I  make  it,  if 
your  honor  please,  for  this  reason  :  That  while  I  was  following  right  in. 
the  track  of  this  same  gentleman  at  the  last  term  of  the  court  I  was  re- 
peatedly interrupted  because  I  was  not  keeping  myself  within  the  limits 
of  the  case.  Now,  I  do  not  propose  hereafter  that  that  kind  of  objec- 
tion shall  be  urged  against  my  associate  who  will  open  this  case,  so  far 
as  General  Brady  is  concerned,  without  having  laid  the  necessary  founda- 
tion for  overturning  that  objection  when  it  is  made. 

The  COURT.  The  court  ovei rules  your  objection,  but  at  the  same  time 
does  not  declare  its  opinion  in  regard  to  the  competency  of  the  evidence, 
for  the  simple  reason  that  that  is  a  question  which  the  court  \\ill  de- 
termine in  its  proper  place.  The  Government  thinks  that  that  kind  of 
evidence  to  which  counsel  is  engaged  in  referring  is  competent  to  sus- 


68 

tain  the  issue  on  its  behalf,  the  court  an  an  objection  to  that  kind  of 
evidence  made  in  the  opening  will  not  rule  on  the  question  of  evidence 
at  all,  but  will  allow  the  counsel  to  open  in  his  own  way. 

Mr.  DAVIDGE.  That  ruling  is  for  both  sides'? 

The  COURT.  I  would  have  no  objection  to  answering  that  question 
anywhere  but  here,  but  here  I  reserve  the  decision  of  all  questions  un- 
til the  proper  time  comes. 

Mr.  WILSON.  Now,  I  entirely  agree  with  the  court,  but 

The  COURT.  [Interposing.]  If  you  agree  with  the  court  let  us  have 
no  argument  about  it. 

Mr.  WILSON.  Just  one  word,  I  beg  your  honor :  If  this  were  a  case 
of  larceny  and  the  defendants  were  accused  of  stealing  a  horse  and  the 
prosecuting  attorney  should  get  up  here  and  talk  about  stealing  a 
steamship  or  committing  piracy  upon  the  high  seas,  you  would  not 
hesitate  for  a  moment  to  stop  him  ? 

The  COURT.  I  cannot  answer  that.  I  am  not  going  to  answer  ques- 
tions, except  when  they  arise. 

Mr.  WILSON.  I  know  your  honor  will  give  us  just  as  wide  range  as 
you  give  them. 

Mr.  BLISS.  Your  honor,  if  I  considered  it  consistent  with  my  own 
self-respect  to  make  personal  charges  of  misrepresentation  as  broadly 
as  the  counsel  does,  I  should  claim  to  refer  your  honor  to  the  record  of 
the  last  trial  as  showing  that  the  gentleman  misstates  what  occurred 
when  he  was  opening. 

Mr.  WILSON.  Well,  I  should  refer  to  the  record  to  show  that  I  have 
not  misstated  it. 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  have  been  reading  it,  sir.  I  have  read  it  at  recess,  and 
I  have  read  it  since  I  sat  here. 

The  COURT.  Go  on  in  your  own  way,  and  unless  you  commit  some 
very  great 

Mr.  BLISS.  [Interposing.]  I  will  do  so.  I  certainty  shall  do  nothing 
that  I  do  not  think  proper.  I  am  going  to  meet  squarely  the  objection 
of  Mr.  Wilson  about  the  railway  service.  He  argued  it  on  the  last 
trial.  I  propose  to  show  the  condition  of  things. 

Now,  I  stated  that  the  expense  of  the  star  service  had  been  reduced 
from  $7,260,832  to  $4,486,755.  One  million  seven  hundred  and  seventy- 
eight  thousand  dollars  of  that  saving  was  made  by  revoking  the  extrav- 
agant orders  of  Thomas  J.  Brady  and  his  chief  clerk.  The  cost  per  mile 
of  the  star  service  on  the  1st  of  January,  1881,  under  Thomas  J.  Brady 
was  $  i  6.99.  The  cost  on  the  1st  of  July,  1882,  after  Brady  went  out  of 
office,  was  $8.62  per  mile.  The  star-route  service  west  of  the  Mississippi 
River  cost  on  the  1st  of  January,  1881,  $2,844.165.  On  the  1st  of  Jan- 
uary, 1882,  it  cost  only  $1,125,419.  Between  June  30,  1881,  and  July 
1,  1882,  there  was  a  reduction  of  $2,001,189  of  the  cost,  being  79J  per 
cent.  The  cost  per  mile  was  reduced  until  to-day  it  is  but  $7.82  per 
mile  against  $16.99  under  Mr.  Brady. 

On  the  1st  of  July,  1882,  new  contracts  went  into  operation  in  all  the 
Pacific  section.  Under  those  contracts,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  the  en- 
tire Territory  of  Dakota,  with  all  its  increased  service,  is  supplied  with 
the  mails  for  $9,500  only  in  excess  of  the  amount  which  Brady  gave  to 
a  single  route  in  that  Territory.  The  entire  Territory  of  Wyoming  is 
supplied  with  mails  at  one-half  the  amount  of  money  which  Brady 
wasted  upon  a  single  route  in  that  Territory. 

It  is  claimed  here — you  have  just  heard  it  claimed — that  a  saving  in 
the  star-route  service  was  made  because  the  railroads  had  come  in  and 
taken  up  the  star-route  service  and  rendered  that  service  unnecessary. 


69 

Now,  gentlemen,  ill  the  Pacific  section,  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  ex- 
cluding the  States  of  Missouri,  Iowa,  Arkansas,  and  Minnesota  there 
has  been  saved  on  the  star  routes  $1,991,000.  There  has  been  added  to 
the  railway  service  in  that  region,  even  including  the  four  omitted 
States,  only  $294,513,  and  yet  you  are  asked  to  believe  that  the 
reduction  of  the  star-route  service  since  Mr.  Brady  went  out  of  office 
has  been  accomplished  not  by  legitimate  economy,  but  by  transferring 
the  expense  from  the  star-route  service  to  the  railroad  service.  There 
has  been  $1,990,000  saved  in  the  Pacific  section.  There  has  been  an 
addition  to  the  railway  mail- service  of  only  $294,513  in  the  Pacific 
section. 

Under  the  new  contracts,  which  took  effect  Julyl,  1882,  I  propose  to 
give  you  a  few  figures,  confining  them  to  cases  where  the  number  of 
trips  per  week  is  the  same,  where  the  distance  is  the  same,  and  where 
the  number  of  hours  is  the  same,  and  let  us  see  what  Mr.  Brady  paid, 
and  what  is  paid  under  open  competition. 

On  one  route  he  paid  $28,600.  They  now  pay  $11,700.  On  another 
route  he  paid  $34,200.  They  now  pay  $8,900.  On  another  route  he 
paid  $5,707.  They  now  pay  $2,283.  On  another  route  he  paid  $5,824. 
They  now  pay  $1,790.  On  another  route  he  paid  $16,770.16.  They 
now  pay  $5,620.  On  another  route  he  paid  $17,569.89.  They  now  pay 
$8,900.  On  another  route  he  paid  $11,752.85.  They  now  pay  $4,630. 
On  another  route  Brady  paid  $5,280.  They  now  pay  $2,620.  On  an- 
other route,  the  J  ulian  to  Colton  route  referred  to  in  this  indictment, 
Mr.  Brady  carried  the  amount  up  to  $8,910.  That  is  the  route,  gentle- 
men, on  which,  if  I  recollect  aright,  he  made  the  increase  for  twenty- 
six  hours  when  they  only  asked  for  thirty-six.  I  think  that  is  the  route. 
At  any  rate  he  paid  $8,910.  The  route  is  now  run  in  the  same  time,, 
the  same  number  of  trips,  and  in  every  way  the  same  for  $3,488.  I  am 
wrong.  On  that  route  the  time  is  a  little  longer.  The  time  under  Mr. 
Brady  was  twenty-six  hours.  The  time  now  is  thirty  hours.  On  all  the 
other  routes  that  I  have  read  to  you,  the  time,  the  number  of  trips  and 
everything  is  the  same,  differing  only  in  the  amount  taken  from  the 
Treasury.  On  another  route  Mr.  Brady  paid  $19,359.99.  Public  com- 
petition gets  it  done  for  the  Government  for  $8,700.  On  another  route 
Brady  paid  $36,284.33.  Public  competition  gets  it  done  for  $21,000. 
On  the  route  from  Eawlius  to  Meeker,  under  the  old  contract  as  in- 
creased by  Brady,  the  amount  was  $31,981.25.  On  that  route,  as  the 
amount  was  reduced  after  Mr.  Brady  went  out  of  office  by  his  suc- 
cessor, the  sum  allowed  was  $5,100.  On  public  competition  the  con- 
tract was  awarded  at  $7,320,  being  $2,400  less  than  Mr.  Brady  paid, 
but  $2,100  more  than  was  allowed  b}~  his  successor.  On  the  route  from 
Pueblo  to  Greenhorn  Mr.  Brady  paid  $3,945.  His  successor  cut  it  down 
to  $1,315.20.  There  is  now  paid,  after  public  competition,  $960.  In 
these  cases,  gentlemen,  there  has  been  acliarfge  in  time  or  trips,  or  both. 
On  the  route  from  Trinidad  to  Madison  Mr.  Brady  paid  $4,290.  It  was 
reduced  by  his  successor  to  $1,014,  and  on  public  competition  it  was  let 
at  $960.  On  the  route  from  Saguache  to  Barnum  Mr.  Brady  paid 
$7,166.40.  It  was  reduced  by  his  successor  to  $1,454.55.  Public  competi- 
tion got  it  done  for  $920.  On  the  route  from  Gardner  to  Kosita  Mr. 
Brady  paid  $3,926.67.  His  successor  reduced  it  to  $1,916.33,  and  public 
competition  got  it  at  $1,468. 

I  could  go  on  and  give  you  more  of  those  routes;  but  the  general  re- 
sult is  this,  gentlemen,  and,  I  think,  we  shall  show  it  to  you  beyond  all 
question,  that  the  extravagant  amounts  that  Mr.  Brady  allowed  having 
been  reduced  by  his  successor  to  the  point  which  he  thought  was  fair 


70 

and  reasonable,- when  they  came  afterwards  to  be  submitted  to  public 
bidding,  the  routes  were  let  at  somewhere  near  about  18  per  cent,  less 
than  the  amount  to  which  Mr.  Brady's  successor  reduced  it,  and  they 
were  let  at  not  over  one-sixth  of  the  amount  Brady  paid. 

Mr.  DAVIDGE.  Were  they  new  contracts'? 

Mr.  BLISS.  They  were  new  contracts  made  alter  public  advertisement, 
to  take  effect  after  the  1st  of  July,  1882. 

Mr.  DAVIDGE.  I  did  not  hear  you  state  that.  , 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  did  state  it. 

Mr.  HENKLE.  Do  you  mean  to  say  they  were  for  the  same  service? 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  stated  expressly  that  as  to  these  routes  I  last  mentioned 
there  was  a  difference  in  time  and  in  trips.  But  I  was  about  to  go  on 
to  say  as  an  additional  fact  that  while  there  had  been  the  reduction  of 
time  and  trips  on  various  of  these  routes  you  will  search  the  Post-Office 
records  in  vain  to  find  half  a  dozen  complaints  coming  from  the  localities 
affected.  The  present  service  is  entirely  adequate. 

Mr.  DAVIDGE.  Who  is  at  the  head  of  the  present  service  "I 

Mr.  BLISS.  Richard  A.  Elmer,  who  was  put  there  by  Thomas  L.  James, 
and  was  there  during  all  these  reductions  after  Mr.  Brady  was  requested 
to  resign. 

Mr.  DAVIDGE.  Well,  you  have  made  a  very  good  defense  for  him. 

Mr.  BLISS.  Precisely. 

Mr.  DAVIDGE.  Has  anybody  ever  charged  him  with  anything  ? 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  do  not  know  whether  they  have  or  not.  With  the  ability 
which  counsel  have  to  throw  out  insinuations  against  everybody  1  do 
not  know  but  what  they  have  done  it  against  him. 

Mr.  DAVIDG?E.  You  need  not  defend  him  until  wre  attack  him. 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  have  not  defended  him.  You  are  mistaken  if  you  sup- 
pose it  to  be  a  defense  of  him.  It  is  a  showing  up  of  your  client, 
Thomas  J.  Brady. 

Mr.  DAVIDGE.  By  contracts  made  four  years  afterwards. 

Mr.  BLISS.  If  you  choose  to  say  so. 

Now,  thirteen  of  these  routes  in  the  indictment,  which,  under  Mr. 
Brady,  had  been  carried  up  to  $219,886.46  a  year  were  reduced  under 
the  administration  of  Mr.  James  and  Mr.  Elmer  to  $32,603.88,  and  at 
the  recent  letting  they  were  let  at  $31,012,  being  about  $1,500  less  than 
the  amount  to  which  Mr.  James  and  Mr.  Elmer  reduced  them,  and  be- 
ing about  $180,000  less  than  the  amount  that  Mr.  Brady  paid.  He  paid 
$218,000  for  what  at  the  public  bidding  was  let  at  $31,'000. 

Mr.  HENKLE.  Was  that  the  same  service  ? 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  have  said  distinctly  it  was  not  the  same  service.  The 
routes  were  let  for  the  number  of  trips  and  the  rate  of  speed  which  the 
service  called  for,  and  that  is  all  that  ever  should  be  done. 

On  route  No.  38156,  from  Silverton  to  Parrott  City,  the  time,  trips, 
and  distance  are  identical.  Mr.  Brady  paid  $14,870.01,  and  at  the 
recent  letting  it  was  let  for  $4,240.  On  ten  routes,  where,  so  far  as  I 
can  ascertain,  the  service  is  substantially  identical,  Mr.  Brady  paid 
$174,369.31,  and  that  service  has  recently  been  let  at  $73,880. 

Now,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  I  think  I  have  given  you  a  sufficient 
dose  of  figures  for  the  present.  I  desire  to  pause  for  a  moment  and 
survey  the  ground  we  have  gone  over.  If  we  presented  to  you  no  other 
evidence  than  that  to  which  I  have  now  referred  we  should  have  shown 
to  you  that  the  practice  of  expedition  was  resorted  to  by  Mr.  Brady  in 
excessive  and  unnecessary  instances ;  that  he  made  allowances  for  ex- 
pedition and  increase  of  pay  to  the  very  limit  nominally  allowed  by  the 
law  when  it  was  utterly  unnecessary  and  unfair  to  do  so ;  that  he  al- 


71 

lowed  expeditions  solely  on  the  statements  of  the  parties  to  be  affected 
by  them,  and  that  those  parties  were  allowed  practically  to  say  how 
much  they  would  take  from  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States ;  that  he 
allowed  expeditions  upon  affidavits  where  the  records  show  there  were 
contradicting  affidavits  by  the  same  parties  on  file  before  him  ;  that  he 
allowed  them  on  affidavits  which  showed  such  absurd  results  as  that 
they  assume  that  one  horse  could  only  travel  two  miles  a  day  ;  that  he 
allowed  excessive  sums  even  if  he  took  the  affidavits  of  the  persons  who 
made  them;  that  he  acted  upon  affidavits  which  were  false;  that  he 
disregarded  the  law  as  to  productiveness ;  that  he  paid  large  sums  of 
money  for  expedition  where  nothing  was  gained  ;  that  he  paid  large  sums 
for  expedition  and  increase  of  trips  where  neither  expedition  nor  in- 
crease of  trips  were  needed  ;  that  he  ordered  impossible  expedition ;  that 
he  paid  twice  for  the  same  service ;  that  he  made  petty  orders,  adding 
to  the  money  to  be  taken  from  the  treasury  whenthefacts  upon  which  they 
were  alleged  to  be  based  were  untrue,  alleging  that  there  was  an  addition 
of  distance  Avhen  there  was  nothing  of  the  kind,  and  similar  cases ;  that 
he  neglected  to  declare  these  parties  failing  contractors,  and  granted 
them  the  liberty  to  continue,  leaving  the  service  to  be  provided  lor  by 
the  Government  in  other  ways  until  they  got  ready  with  their  petitions 
and  names  for  expedition,  so  as  to  make  their  losing  contracts  winning 
contracts ;  that  he  acted  upon  false  petitions,  petitions  which  upon 
their  face  were  false,  and  petitions  which  did  not  even  answer  his  al- 
leged purpose  of  being  a  cover  or  protection  for  himself.  We  shall  un- 
dertake, however,  gentlemen,  to  show  to  you  much  more  than  this. 
We  shall  place  before  you  a  gentleman  not  a  willing  witness  for  the 
Government,  but  a  witness  whose  testimony  will  have  to  be  drawn  from 
him,  who  will  testify,  we  think,  to  substantially  this  condition  of  things  : 
that  he  having  made  advances  to  parties  concerned  in  the  postal  serv- 
ice, and  those  parties  having  failed  to  carry  out  their  contracts,  for  the 
purpose  of  protecting  himself  and  saving  the  advances  which  he  had 
already  made,  became  a  contractor  upon  a  route  under  an  order  made 
by  Mr.  Brady ;  that  that  relation  brought  him  into  connection  with  Mr. 
Brady,  and  that  thereupon  Mr.  Brady,  at  various  times,  received  from  hirn 
loans  of  money  under  such  circumstances  that  his  evidence  in  that  respect 
can  be  entirely  corroborated;  that  after  a  time  this  gentleman  being  sub- 
stantially broken  up  by  his  experience  with  the  mail  service,  he  called 
upon  Mr.  Brady  for  a  settlement  and  a  repayment  of  the  money  advanced, 
and  that  Mr.  Brady  refused  to  pay  it,  saying  to  him  that  that  money  was 
simply  bribes  which  he  had  paid  to  him  for  favors  which  he  alleged  he 
had  given  him  in  connection  with  his  mail  service,  and  telling  him  also 
that  he  haddoneno  more  than  all  other  con  tractors  did;  that  they  all  had 
to  pay  him ;  that  he  did  not  suppose  that  the  witness  believed  that  he, 
Brady,  made  these  orders  for  the  fun  of  the  thing;  that  he  made  them 
for  the  solid  reason  of  getting  an  interest  and  percentage  for  making 
them,  and  that  when  this  witness  referred  to  his  supposition  that  he 
made  them  on  the  basis  of  petitions  which  were  filed,  Mr.  Brady  scat- 
tered the  idea  to  the  winds,  and  told  him  he  ought  to  know  better  than 
that.  Said  he,  "  You  understand  there  were  petitions  filed  in  your  be- 
half, but  I  did  not  pay  any  attention  to  them.  They  had  no  effect  upon 
me.  They  were  simply  a  cover  giving  me  something  to  protect  me  in 
doing  this  thing."  I  have  stated  briefly  the  evidence  of  a  witness  who 
I  feel  confident  will  satisfy  you  that  he 'is  telling  the  truth.  He  can  be 
supported  in  the  statements  by  various  corroborative  evidence.  He  is 
not  a  swift  witness  in  the  service  of  the  Government,  but  a  man  whom 
we  can  bring  here  under  subp<ena,  and  who  will  tell  the  truth  upon  the 


72 

stand  because  it  is  his  duty  to  tell  the  truth.  And  if  his  character  is 
attacked,  we  shall  be  prepared  to  show  that  it  is  beyond  successful  at- 
tack. 

But,  gentlemen,  we  shall  go  further.  We  shall  show"  you  that  one 
of  these  defendants,  Montfort  C.  Eerdell,  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1881, 
after  Mr.  Brady  went  out  of  office,  and  when  this  investigation  in  con- 
nection with  the  star-route  service  was  first  commenced,  having  been 
simply  the  clerk,  the  scribe,  apparently  with  no  direct  pecuniary  in- 
terest— I  think  he  had  an  interest  as  to  some  of  the  routes — but  at  any 
rate  being  the  humble  servant  and  employe  of  these  conspirators, 
found  this  investigation  was  getting  near  home,  and  said,  "  1  propose 
to  save  myself,  and  I  propose  to  save  that  one  of  the  defendants, 
Stephen  W.  Dorsey,  to  whom  I  peisonally  owe  the  most  allegiance  and 
for  whom  I  have  the  most  affection.  He  is  the  man  wTho  brought  me 
from  Arkansas  here  and  who  jmtineinto  one  of  the  departments  of  the 
Government  and  who  took  me  as  his  clerk  to  the  Senate,  who  kept  me 
in  the  position  and  who  has  paid  me  my  salary.  Now,  I  propose  to 
make  a  clean  breast  of  it  and  endeavor  to  save  him  and  myself."  In 
following  out  that  theory  he  met,  on  the  street,  Ex-Gov.  Powell  Clay- 
ton, of  Arkansas.  I  presume  he  sought  him  from  the  fact  that  he  knew 
that  Governor  Clayton  had  access  to  the  then  officials  of  the  adminis- 
tration, and  he  possibly  might  have  been  influenced  by  the  fact  that  he 
knew  Ex-Governor  Clayton  had  in  the  past  not  been  friendly  to  Mr. 
Dorsey.  He  told  him  he  wanted  to  be  brought  into  communication  with 
the  Postmaster-General.  Clayton  told  him  he  would  arrange  for  the 
meeting.  He  went  to  the  Postmaster-General,  and  an  arrangement  was 
made  by  which  there  was  a  meeting  at  the  rooms  of  the  Postmaster-Gen- 
eral at  the  Arlington  Hotel.  Mr.  Eerdell  came  there,  and  Mr.  Eerdell 
then  made  a  detailed  statement  of  the  facts  which  he  stated  existed  within 
his  own  experience.  Mr.  James  stated  to  him  that  he  desired  to  have 
him  see  the  Attorney-General.  An,  appointment  was  made  for  a  fur- 
ther interview,  and  at  that  interview  Mr.  Eerdell  renewed  the  state- 
ments that  he  had  originally  made.  The  first  interview  was  held  in 
the  presence  of  Mr.  James,  Governor  Clayton,  and  Mr.  Woodward,  an 
inspector  of  the  Post-Office  Department.  It  took  place  early  in  June  of 
last  year.  Mr.  Eerdell  stated  that  he  had  been  Stephen  W.  Dorsey's 
confidential  clerk ;  that  he  had  attended  to  the  business  of  all  these 
contractors  ;  that  it  was  perfectly  well  understood  that  they  were  di- 
viding their  profits  with  Mr.  Brady;  that  there  was  a  regular  schedule 
on  which  the  division  was  made;  that  for  increase  of  speed,  which  was 
the  large  allowance,  there  was  paid  to  Mr.  Brady  by  the  contractors  a 
percentage  of  either  33  or  40  per  cent,  of  the  amount;  that  in  case  Mr. 
Brady  remitted  fines  imposed  upon  contractors  for  failure  to  perform 
service,  he  was  to  have  50  per  cent,  of  the  amount ;  that  at  the  time 
when  Congress,  in  1880,  was  investigating  this  business — Congress  went 
into  an  investigation  when  Mr.  Brady  made  the  request  for  the  large 
extra  appropriation — it  was  believed  that  the  books  of  Dorsey  and 
Company  would  be  called  for,  and  that  Mr.  Eerdell  would  be  the 
witness  required  to  produce  them  ;  that  he  therefore  shammed  sick- 
ness while  time  was  given  to  prepare  a  bogus  set  of  books ;  that  he  did 
not  prepare  hose  books,  but  he  gave  instructions  as  to  how  they  should 
be  prepared,  marking  the  entries  in  the  original  books  Avhich  should 
be  changed;  that  in  the  original  books  Mr.  Brady  appeared  as  Smith; 
and  that  a  clerk  in  one  of  the  departments  appeared  as  Jones ;  that 
when  the  new  set  of  books  were  made  those  items  that  went  in  in  that 
way  were  transferred  to  other  accounts,  mostly,  I  think,  "to  profit  and 


73 

loss;"  that  be,  Eerdell,  had  on  one  occasion  gone  with  Mr.  Stephen  W. 
Dorsey  to  the  bank,  and  that  $7,000  had  been  drawn;  that  he  had  gone 
with  Mr.  Dorsey  to  the  door,  either  of  the  Post-Office  or  of  Mr.  Brady's 
room  at  the  Post-Office — I  will  not  undertake  to  say  which — Mr.  Dorsey 
stating  to  him  that  he  intended  to  pay  that  money  to  Mr.  Brady,  and 
that  he,  Dorsey,  went  in.  Eerdell  did  not  claim  to  have  gone  in  and 
seen  the  money  paid.  He  produced  certain  abstracts,  which  he  said 
were  abstracts  from  the  books  or  the  results  of  the  accounts.  He 
said  that  he  went  before  the  committee  finally,  but  that  they  did  not 
send  for  the  books,  and  that  therefore  that  labor  was  labor  wasted; 
that  he  had  been  remonstrated  with  by  the  defendants  after  his  exami 
nation  by  the  committee,  on  the  ground  that  he  had  told  too  much,  and 
that  he  replied  that  he  had  told  nothing  he  could  help  telling,  and  that 
his  testimony  was  as  guarded  as  it  could  be  without  incurring  the  dan- 
ger of  instant  exposure  if  they  went  to  the  records  and  discovered  its 
error.  There  was  a  good  deal  more  of  the  same  nature.  Mr.  Eerdell  then, 
desired  to  see  Mr.  MacVeagh,  and  an  arrangement  was  made.to  have  him 
see  Mr.  MacVeagh  on  a  subsequent  evening.  It  was  arranged  that  he 
should  communicate  with  Mr.  Woodward,  the  Post-Office  inspector, 
under  an  assumed  name.  Mr.  Woodward  having  ascertained  as  he  be- 
lieved that  Mr.  MacVeagh  would  not  be  in  town  on  the  night  fixed  for 
Mr.  Eerdell  to  go  to  his  house  sent  Eerdell,  through  the  post-office,  a 
notice  to  that  effect;  but  in  order  to  make  sure,  Mr.  Woodward  went 
to  the  Attorney -General's  house,  and  as  he  got  to  the  steps  he  found 
Eerdell  in  front  of  him,  having  just  rung  the  bell,  and  having  with  him 
certain  books.  On  going  in  it  appeared'Mr.  MacVeagh  had  returned. 
Mr.  Eerdell  repeated  substantially  the  statement  which  I  have  made  to 
you.  He  said  that  these  books  which  he  produced  were  the  letter- 
books  of  the  concern,  and  contained  some  letters  written  by  him  and 
some  written  by  Stephen  W.  Dorsey,  and  he  showed  to  the  gentlemen 
certain  press  copies  of  letters  which  were  identical  with  letters  which 
had  been  shortly  beiore  that  discovered  to  have  been  sent  to  Oregon 
by  S.  W.  Dorsey,  and  the  originals  of  which  were  at  that  time  accessi- 
ble. There  were  one  or  two  other  interviews  upon  that  subject,  and 
Mr.  Eerdell  said  that  the  tell-tale  books  were  in  New  York,  and  he 
would  go  there  and  get  them,  and  would  bring  them,  with  other  papers 
which  he  could  find  as  confirmatory  of  his  statement,  and  leave  them 
with  the  Attorney-General.  A  few  days  afterwards  Mr.  James  was  on 
the  cars  going  to  New  York,  and  he  found  Mr.  Eerdell  upon  the  same 
train.  Mr.  Eerdell  told  him  he  was  going  over  to  carry  out  his  arrange- 
ment as  to  the  production  of  the  books.  They  arrived  in  New  York  early 
in  the  morning.  That  afternoon  at  3.30  Mr.  James  left  to  come  back, 
and  to  his  surprise  found  Mr.  Eerdell  upon  the  train.  Mr.  Eerdell 
told  him  he  did  not  want  to  have  much  conversation  with  him  there, 
because  there  was  upon  the  train  somebody  interested  in  the  star- 
-route.  business;  but  pointing  to  a  bundle  which  he  had,  told  him 
he  had  those  books  with  him.  When  they  got  to  either  Trenton  or 
Philadelphia  the  conductor  came  into  the  parlor  car  and  called  out  the 
name  of  Mr.  Eerdell,  saying  that  he  had  two  dispatches  for  him.  Eer- 
dell took  the  dispatches  and  read  them,  and  subsequently  as  Mr.  James 
was  passing  showed  him  those  dispatches,  which  were  dispatches  signed 
with  the  name  of  Stephen  W.  Dorsey.  One  of  them  expressed  regret 
that  they  had  parted  in  anger  and  begged  him  to  come  back,  and  the 
other  beseeched  him  to  pause  in  the  course  upon  which  he  had  entered 
as  it  would  result  in  the  ruin  of  Dorsey 's  family.  Mr.  Eerdell  came  back 
to  the  city  with  the  dispatches  in  his  possession,  stating  that  he  was 


74 

determined  to  carry  out  his  agreement  with  the  Attorney -General. 
When  he  got  here  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  somebody,  and  from  that 
time  on  he  lost  all  desire  to  protect  himself  and  to  clear  his  conscience, 
but  passed  altogether  under  the  influence  of  these  defendants.  Their 
ranks  were  closed  up  and  he  stands  before  you  now  as  one  of  the  de- 
fendants, whose  testimony  against  himself  will  be  accepted  by  the  court 
and  by  you  as  absolutely  conclusive,  and  whose  testimony  will  throw  a 
lurid  light  upon  this  conspiracy  and  the  relations  of  the  different  parties 
to  it. 

Your  honor,  I  am  about  to  begin  upon  new  matter.  Perhaps  this  is 
a  good  time  to  adjourn.  I  hoped  to  get  through  to-day,  and  should, 
I  think,  have  been  able  to  do  so  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  interruptions. 

The  COURT.  Adjourn  the  court. 

At  this  point  (3  o'clock  and  55  minutes  p.  in.)  the  court  adjourned 
until  Monday  morning  next  at  11  o'clock. 


MONDAY,  DECEMBER  18,  188-2. 

The  court  met  at  11  o'clock. 

Present,  counsel  for  the  Government  and  for  the  defendants. 

Mr.  BLISS  resumed  as  follows  : 

May  it  please  the  court  and  you,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  on  looking 
over  my  memorandum  I  perceive  that  I  stated  somewhat  inadequately 
the  evidence  which  we  propose  to  offer  as  to  the  conversation  of  the 
contractor  Walsh  with  Mr.  Brady,  and  it  is  perhaps  right  that  I  should 
amplify  that  a  little.  I  stated  that  the  contractor  after  having  loaned 
&s  he  claimed  money  to  Mr.  Brady,  and  having  come  into  a  position 
where  he  desired  his  money  returned,  called  upon  Mr.  Brady  to  re- 
turn it  to  him  and  made  an  appointment  to  meet  him  at  a  given  place. 
They  there  met.  That  he  called  upon  Mr.  Brady  to  return  him  the 
money  and  gave  him  the  amounts;  that  a  discussion  was  opened  as  to 
the  amount  of  interest  that  was  to  be  paid,  the  question  as  to  interest 
having  been  left  unsettled,  and  that  he  was  then  inet  by  the  statement 
of  Mr.  Brady  that  he,  Brady,  owed  him  nothing;  that  in  fact  the  con- 
tractor, Walsh,  rather  owed  him  ;  that  Brady  alleged  that  he  had  ben- 
efited him  very  largely ;  that  he  had  given  him  a  remunerative  con- 
tract, and  that  he  did  not  think  that  he,  Brady,  was  under  any  obliga- 
tion to  Walsh,  and  that  when  asked  for  an  explanation,  Brady  said  he 
did  not  think  any  explanation  was  needed,  that  he  thought  Walsh  knew 
enough,  had  seen  enough  to  understand  what  the  usual  arrangements 
were.  Walsh,  professing  ignorance,  called  for  an  explanation.  Brady 
then  recited  that  Walsh's  route  had  been  expedited,  the  service  in- 
creased, and  he  must  not  suppose  that  he,  Brady,  did  these  things  just 
for  amusement.  Whereupon  Walsh  replied  that  he  thought  or  supposed 
he  did  it  because  of  the  petitions  from  people  in  the  locality,  &c.,  as  to 
the  needs  of  the  service,  to  which  Brady  replied  that  petitions  had  noth- 
ng  to  do  with  it;  that  there  was  no  use  in  arguing  the  matter,  and 
that  if  he,  Walsh,  professed  ignorance  of  what  the  real  arrangements 
were  that  was  mere  affectation,  and  he  then  told  him  that  as  a  rule  20 
per  cent,  per  annum  was  paid  to  him,  Brady,  on  the  amount  of  all  ex- 
peditious that  he  ordered ;  and  he  then  went  into  figures  as  to  what 
would  result  to  Walsh  on  the  application  of  that  to  the  contract  which 
he  had  had.  There  was  also  a  statement  of  some  other  sums,  credits 
that  Mr.  Brady  claimed  he  was  entitled  to ;  and  that  brings  me  to  a 


$  75 

matter  which  I  have  not  referred  to  heretofore,  and  that  is  the  ques- 
tion of  remissions  of  fines  and  penalties.  It  .is  in  the  power  of 
the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General  when  any  contractor  has 
been  fined  for  not  performing  the  service  at  all,  or  not  perform- 
ing it  in  the  requisite  time,  for  losing  one  trip  or  twenty  trips, 
or  being  behind  time  on  one  trip  or  twenty  trips,  it  is  in  the  power  and 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  Postmaster  General  to  impose  fines  upon  the  party, 
that  he  shall  not  receive  money  for  service  which  he  has  not  performed. 
Those  fines  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster- 
General  to  remit,  and  to  remit  substantially  at  his  own  will,  it  being 
assumed  under  the  law  and  the  regulations  of  course  that  the  Second 
Assistant  Postmaster-General  will  be  a  man  of  honesty  and  discretion. 
In  this  discussion  between  Walsh  and  Brady  there  came  up  the  ques- 
tion of  remissions  of  fines  and  penalties,  or  fines  and  forfeitures  as 
spoken  of  sometimes,  which  really  are  penalties,  and  Mr.  Brady  told 
Walsh  that  he,  Brady,  was  entitled  to  and  he  always  got  50  per  cent,  of 
all  fines  and  penalties  which  he  remitted.  Mr.  Brady  told  Mr.  Walsh 
that  these  arrangements  were  the  general  arrangements  made  with  all 
contractors  for  whom  he  made  orders  benefiting  them  by  expedition  of 
service,  or  increase  of  service,  or  the  remission  of  their  fines,  and  in- 
sisted that  he,  Walsh,  must  recognize  that  system  which  prevailed.  Mr. 
Walsh  declined  to  recognize  that  system  which  prevailed,  and  claimed 
that  he  was  in  entire  ignorance  of  it. 

The  money  was  undoubtedly  paid  by  Walsh  to  Brady.  There  can  be 
no  question  of  that.  We  shall  prove  to  you,  beyond  all  question,  by 
the  account  of  the  banker  in  New  York  to  whom  the  payment  was  made, 
the  payment  made  by  Walsh  to  Brady  on  the  precise  day  when  Walsh 
says  it  was  made,  and  that  money  that  Brady  had  of  Walsh  Mr.  Walsh 
says  was  money  that  he  lent  to  him.  Mr.  Brady  claims  to  retain  it  un- 
der some  undefined  condition  other  than  that.  I  mean  he  claims  it  in 
court,  but  claims  to  Mr.  Walsh,  as  Mr.  Walsh  states,  that  he  had  a 
right  to  retain  it  because  it  was  the  usual  percentage  which  he  received 
from  everybody  for  whom  he  expedited  or  increased  the  service,  and 
that  on  the  figures  made  in  detail  Mr.  Walsh  still  owed  him  some  money 
instead  of  Mr.  Brady  owing  Walsh  for  money  loaned. 

I  have  spoken,  gentJemen  of  the  jury,  thus  far  almost  solely  of  Mr. 
Brady  among  these  defendants.  1  have  done  that  designedly,  and, 
in  a  great  measure,  from  the  necessities  of  the  case.  Mr.  Brady 
was  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General.  Dorsey  might  con- 
ceive the  scheme.  He  might  bring  into  it  his  brother,  his  brother- 
in-law,  his  business  associate ;  he  might  do  all  these  things,  and, 
unless  there  was  some  arrangement  by  which  orders  were  to  be  got 
from  Mr.  Brady  which  would  put  money  into  the  pocket  of  the  con- 
tractors represented  by  Dorsey  and  his  associates,  money  in  excess  of 
the  fair  needs  of  the  service,  money  in  excess  of  any  return  which  they 
made  to  the  Government  therefor,  the  conspiracy  would  be  a  useless 
and  futile  thing,  and  therefore  I  have  spoken  of  Mr.  Brady  so  far,  be- 
cause it  was  his  acts  which  became  necessary  to  carry  out  the  con- 
spiracy, to  give  it  any  effect  whatever  in  defrauding  the  United  States. 
There  might  be  a  conspiracy  to  defraud  the  United  States  and  do 
some  act  in  pursuance  of  it  which  would  bring  the  parties  within 
the  statute  which  I  read  to  you  at  the  opening  of  my  remarks,  but  at 
the  same  time  it  would  be  an  act  which  would  not  result  in  any  actual 
loss  to  the  Government,  unless  Mr.  Brady  made  the  orders  sought  at 
his  hands.  In  this  connection,  I  may  perhaps  as  well  call  your  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  a  conspiracy  is  a  thing  to  be  proved  from  the  very 


76 

nature  of  the  case  from  an  aggregation  of  apparently  isolated  facts. 
People  when  going  ftito  a  conspiracy  to  defraud  the  Government  or  to 
defraud  individuals  do  not  sit  down  and  enter  into  a  contract  under 
seal  and  put  it  on  record  somewhere  or  distribute  it  around  among 
those  that  they  think  will  go  to  work  and  do  this  thing  to  defraud 
A,  B,  C,  or  the  Government,  but  they  make  an  informal  verbal  agree- 
ment which  is  necessarily  secret,  made  among  themselves,  arid  which 
is  intended  to  be  kept  secret,  and  the  knowledge  of  which  can  only  be 
acquired  by  the  parties  injured  either  by  its  results,  and  the  draw- 
ing of  the  inferences  which  you  will  be  asked  to  draw  from  a  large 
number  of  facts  which  will  be  presented  to  you,  or,  in  some  cases, 
from  the  confession  of  some  of  the  parties  concerned.  For  such  a 
conspiracy,  as  the  court  will  tell  you,  to  come  within  the  law  there  must 
be  two  persons.  Two  must  conspire,  and  if  either  one  of  them  does  any 
act  in  pursuance  of  the  conspiracy  then  both  are  guilty.  If  there  are 
more  than  two  it  is  not  necessary  that  all  should  have  come  into  the 
conspiracy  at  the  same  time.  It  is  not  necessary  that  all  should  have 
continued  with  the  conspiracy  through  its  whole  continuance.  Two 
people  may  have  formed  a  conspiracy,  and  finding  that  they  needed 
somebody  else  to  come  into  it  may  bring  in  the  third.  They  may  bring 
in  a  fourth  or  any  indefinite  number.  In  the  same  way  parties  who 
have  entered  into  a  conspiracy  may  go  along  for  a  certain  time  and  cer- 
tain portions  of  them  withdraw  from  it,  and  in  those  cases  I  assume 
that  the  parties  who  withdraw  from  the  conspiracy  are  not  to  be  charge- 
able with  any  act  done  after  they  withdraw,  but  still  remain  liable  for 
the  acts  done  while  they  were  in  it.  On  the  other  hand,  parties  who  come 
into  a  conspiracy  after  it  has  commenced,  and  come  into  it  in  pursuance 
of  the  conspiracy  are  chargeable,  as  I  understand,  for  all  the  acts  done, 
even  before  they  come  in.  That  view  is,  so  far  as  this  case  is  concerned, 
a  theoretical  question  which  will  not  trouble  you,  gentlemen.  I  have 
spoken  as  I  said  of  Brady  chiefly,  because  of  his  necessity  to  the  con- 
spiracy to  make  it  effectual  in  defrauding  the  Government.  I  have 
spoken  of  him  moreover,  gentlemen,  as  the  foremost,  because,  if  guilty, 
we  regard  him  as  the  most  guilty  person  of  these  defendants  before 
you,  from  the  fact  that  he  was,  while  making  these  orders,  an  officer  of 
the  United  States,  and  was  faithless  to  the  trust  which  was  imposed 
upon  him. 

As  to  the  other  defendants,  who  were  they  ?  There  was  Stephen  W. 
Dorsey,  a  Senator  of  the  United  States  from  the  State  of  Arkansas 
down  to  the  4th  of  March,  1879.  These  contracts  took  effect  on  the  1st 
of  July,  1878.  The  bids  were  awarded,  I  think,  in  February,  1878.  By 
a  statute  of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Dorsey,  while  a  Senator,  could  not 
be  interested  in  any  contract  with  the  Govern  ment,  directly  or  indirectly. 
Mr.  Dorsey,  while  Senator,  was,  I  think,  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Post  Offices,  and  chairman  of  the  subcommittee  in  charge  of  all  the  ap- 
propriations. That  brought  him  of  course  directly  into  connection  with 
i  the  Post-Office  Department  and  its  officials,  and  gave  him,  as  we  all 
understand  necessarily  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  the  possession  of 
some  exceptional  power  over  officials  of  the  department — greater  power 
than  a  Senator  would  have  when  occupying  some  other  position.  Mr. 
John  W.  Dorsey  was  the  brother  of  Stephen  W.  Dorsey,  and  was  the 
resident  of  a  little  town  in  Vermont — Middlebury,  I  think  it  was — and  he 
there  carried  on  the  trade  of  a  tinsmith.  Mr.  John  M.  Peck  was  the 
brother-in-law  of*Mr.  Stephen  W.  Dorsey,  residing  at  or  near  a  ranch  of  Mr. 
Dorsey's  in  New  Mexico,  in  so  bad  health/that,  so  far  as  we  know,  he  took 
little  active  participation  in  the  conspiracy — I  mean  active  in  the  sense 


77 

of  moving  about,  though  he  signed  an  abundance  of  papers,  and  author- 
ized others  to  sign  an  abundance  of  papers  in  connection  with  the  mat- 
ter. Mr.  John  E.  Miner  had  been  for  years  a  resident  of  Sandusky, 
Ohio.  He  had  been  there  the  business  associate  and  friend  of  Senator 
Dorsey.  Mr.  Rerdell  was  from  Arkansas,  brought  here  by  Senator 
Dorsey,  and  placed  by  Senator  Dorsey  in  a  position  under  the  District 
government,  transferred  from  that,  or  performing  in  connection  with 
that,  I  think,  the  duties  of  a  secretary  to  Senator  Dorsey,  and  after 
Senator  Dorsey  ceased  to  be  Senator  Mr.  Rerdell  at  some  time  passed 
into  the  position  of  clerk  to  him  and  manager,  so  to  speak,  of  the  mail 
service  which  was  obtained — manager  on  the  Washington  end,  of  the 
business  of  these  several  defendants  in  connection  with  these  contracts 
to  which  I  have  referred. 

Mr.  Yaile's  relations  to  this  conspiracy  were  different  from  those 
of  the  others.  All  of  these  parties  whom  I  have  already  mentioned  to 
you,  you  will  notice,  had  no  relation  to  the  mail  business.  They  ap- 
parently knew  nothing  about  it.  In  fact  we  shall  show  you  that 
they  knew  nothing  about  it.  Mr.  Vaile,  however,  was  a  large  mail 
contractor  engaged  in  the  business,  not  a  speculator  in  mail  con- 
tracts like  these  other  parties.  He  lived  in  Missouri.  He  came 
into  the  conspiracy,  as  we  claim,  at  some  time  after  the  contracts 
were  obtained,  certainly  before  all  the  routes  were  put  in  operation, 
and  as  we  think  before  the  time  came  for  any  to  be  put  into  operation, 
and  he  took  active  charge,  became  the  subcontractor,  taking  charge  of 
the  routes — I  think  of  ail  of  the  routes  in  the  State  of  Oregon  which  were 
awarded  to  these  parties,  and  perhaps  some  others. 

We  think,  gentlemen,  that  we  shall  be  able  to  show  you  that  as  to  this 
conspiracy  it  had  its  origin  in  the  brain  of  Stephen  W.  Dorsey ;  that 
from  his  position  as  United  States  Senator  and  a  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Post-Offices  he  acquired  knowledge  which  led  him  to  think 
that  there  was  a  chance  tp  make  money.  Then  at  a  very  early  stage  in 
the  case  he  brought  into  the  service  of  the  conspirators — I  do  not  say 
into  the  conspiracy — one  Albert  E.  Boone,  who  had  been  a  clerk  in  one 
of  the  departments,  and  who  going  out  of  that  had  become  a  contractor 
for  carrying  the  mails,  and  who  undoubtedly  possessed  both  brain  and 
knowledge,  and  both  of  those  were  useful  to  Mr.  Dorsey  so  far  as  related 
to  the  mail  service.  Mr.  Boone,  so  far  as  we  know,  commenced  the  busi- 
ness by  having  been  approached  by  Mr.  Dorsey,  and  invited  to  come  to 
his  house,  and  when  he  got  there  to  take  charge  of  the  business  of  pre- 
paring the  bids  for  the  contracts  which  Dorsey  was  seeking  to  ob- 
tain. They  put  in  a  thousand  or  more  bids.  A  part  of  those  bids 
were  put  in  in  the  name  of  John  M.  Peck,  part  in  the  name  of 
John  W.  Dorsey,  part  in  the  name  of  John  R.  Miner — none  of 
them,  of  course,  in  Stephen  W,  Dorsey's  name,  not  many  certainly 
in  the  name  of  Rerdell,  and  I  think  none.  The  bids  were  prepared  in 
Mr.  Dorsey's  house  in  a  third -story  room.  They  were  prepared  there 
tinder  the  supervision  of  Mr.  Boone,  Mr.  Miner,  I  think,  having  a  good 
deal  to  do  with  it,  Mr.  John  W.  Dorsey  little,  or  comparatively  little, 
Mr.  John  M.  Peck  having  very  little  to  do  with  it  except  that  his  name 
appears  to  a  large  number  of  the  bids.  We  think  we  shall  be  able  to 
show  you  who  placed  that  name  there.  Prior  to  any  putting  in  of  the 
bids  and  the  preparation  of  them,  Mr.  Boone  had  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  post-office  inspectors  so  much  that  they  had  made  a  detailed  ex- 
amination of  the  facts  and  had  made  a  report  though  not  knowing  to 
what  the  preparations  which  were  going  on  were  intended  to  lead  up. 
They  found  that  Mr.  Booue  was  sending  out  circulars  to  postmasters  all 


78 

over  the  country  asking  them  for  information  as  to  the  nature  of  the 
mail  service,  the  nature  of  the  route,  the  expenses  for  horse  feed,  and 
all  the  details  of  that  kind,  and  he  was  directing  the  information  to  be 
returned  to  the  firm  to  a  particular  box,  which  was  box  No.  714  in  the 
post-office,  and  that  lock-box  714  you  will  find  will  play  an  important 
part  in  connection  with  this  conspiracy.  That  a  large  number  of  the 
.  papers  which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  present  to  you  came  to  box  714 
'  after  this  conspiracy  got  well  under  way.  The  answers  of  the  postmas- 
ters were  to  be  sent  to  James  H.  Keitner  &  Company  at  lock-box  714. 
James  H.  Keitner  was  the  step-sou  of  Boone,  a  boy  about  15  or  16  years 
of  age.  The  inducement  which  Mr.  Boone  furnished  to  the  postmasters 
to  take  the  trouble  to  give  him  this  information  was  his  promise  that  he 
would  do  for  them  any  business  that  they  had  with  the  department,  and 
every  postmaster  does  have  business  with  the  department  in  the  settle- 
ment of  his  accounts  and  various  things  as  to  which  it  is  desirable  to 
have  a  Washington  agent.  In  all  that  Boone  did  in  that  way  there 
was  nothing  that  could  fairly  be  styled  objectionable.  At  the  same 
time  it  was  a  gathering  of  information  which  was  intended  to  be  used 
by  these  speculators  in  mail  contracts  and  which  attracted  the  attention 
of  Government  officers. 

The  next  step  that  appeared  in  that  thing  was  this:  The  Post-Office 
Department  furnishes  blank  forms  of  proposals  to  bidders  for  the  pur- 
pose of  having  the  law  complied  with,  and  having  everything  in  form  and 
proper,  instead  of  leaving  every  man  to  prepare  his  own  proposal,  which 
is  found  in  experience  to  result  in  great  trouble  arising  from  the  question 
whether  a  proposal  is  in  accordance  with  the  law  or  riot,  which  lead  to  com- 
petition between  conflicting  claims  of  bidders.  The  Post  Office  prepare 
and  furnish  to  contractors  or  parties  intending  to  become  contractors 
blank  forms  of  bids.  There  is  no  obligation  upon  the  parties  to  take  them. 
There  isno  obligation  upon  them  to  use  them,  but  that  is  the  practice.  Itis 
done  in  that  way.  For  the  purpose  of  being  sfcre  that  they  are  properly 
filled  up,  the  Post-Office  Department  places  upon  those  contracts  or 
those  bids  certain  directions,  among  others,  directions  that  proposals 
alteied  by  erasure  or  interlineations  will  not  be  considered,  directions 
as  to  before  whom  the  oath  of  officers  should  be  taken.  Then  there 
comes  in  the  important  question  in  connection  with  the  sureties.  By 
the  law,  no  man  can  bid  for  a  post-office  contract  for  carrying  the  mail 
unless  he  accompanies  his  bid  with  a  bond  of  sureties,  which  sureties 
have  to  swear  before  a  postmaster  that  they  are  worth  a  given  sum, 
adequate  to  the  amount  named  in  the  bid,  and  on  each  route  the  Post- 
Office  Department  in  its  advertisement  fixes  the  security  to  be  given. 
Any  bid  to  be  given  must  have  sureties,  and  those  sureties  are  required 
to  become  resp;>nsible,  first,  that  the  bidder  will  enter  into  the  formal 
contract  with  the  Government,  and  second,  that  the  bidder  having 
entered  into  the  formal  contract  with  the  Government,  will  carry  it  out 
faithfully  during  the  four  years  of  its  term.  It  is  a  bid  which, 
therefore,  imposes  heavy  responsibility  upon  the  sureties,  or  may 
impose  heavy  responsibility  upon  the  sureties,  and  which,  when 
parties  are  going  into  the  business  of  putting  in  bids  for,  say  a  thou- 
sand routes,  imposes  a  very  heavy  liability  upon  the  sureties,  and  if  they 
are  furnished  in  good  faith  and  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  law, 
certainly  makes  it  a  very  difficult  thing  for  parties  situated  in  that  way 
to  get  adequate  bonds,  because  the  amount  becomes  enormous.  It  is 
a  provision,  I  may  say  in  passing,  which  seems  to  me  a  foolish  and 
unnecessary  provision  in  so  far  as  it  extends  the  liability  of  a  surety  on 
a  bid  beyond  the  time  when  the  formal  contract  has  been  entered  into. 


79 

But  it  is  the  law.  ^N"ow,  the  Post-Office  Department,  anxious  to  get 
the  bids  all  right,  places  upon  the  forms  of  proposals  which  it  issues  a 
provision  of  this  kind  : 

Sureties  are  liable  during  the  whole  of  the  contract  ter,m.  Postmasters  will  ob- 
serve that  tlie  improper  approval  of  the  bond  or  the  certificate  of  the  sufficiency  of 
the  sureties  thereon  exposes  them  not  only  to  dismissal,  but  to  fine  and  imprisonment. 
Certificates  must  not  l>e  signed  until  the  proposal  is  complete  and  a  bond  signed. 
Postmasters  must  not  divulge  the  amount  of  any  proposal  certified  by  them  under 
penalty  of  removal. 

Mr.  Boone  went  to  the  firm  of  Darby  &  Duval,  in  this  city,  early  in 
December,  1877,  after  he  had  been  employed  by  Dorsey,  and  he  ordered 
a  large  quantity  of  these  proposals  printed,  and  he  directed  to  be  left 
off  of  these  proposals  the  clause  I  have  read  to  you,  the  directions  of 
the  Post  Office  Department  placed  upon  them  as  to  the  way  in  which 
the  bonds  were  to  be  executed  and  the  cautions  to  the  postmas- 
ters that  they  must  not  certify  to  any  bond  until  executed  by  the 
parties.  And,  gentlemen  of  tlie  jury,  you  will  see  very  clearly  the 
importance  of  that,  because  if  a  surety  is  to  become  responsible  for 
somebody,  if  he  acknowledges  it  in  a  blank  bond,  the  moment  the 
name  is  inserted  after  that  it  is  an  altered  bond  and  he  gets  a  defense.  If 
the  name  or  amount  is  not  there  on  the  bond  he  becomes  responsible 
for  something  he  knows  nothing  of ;  he  has  become  responsible  for  a 
contract  on  a  route  he  knows  nothing  of,  and  at  any  rate  the  changing 
of  it  makes  an  alteration  in  the  bond  and  discharges  the  surety.  ^Now, 
in  that  condition  of  things,  having  got  these  bids  and  bonds  printed, 
various  postmasters  in  the  State  of  Arkansas  received  early  in  Decem- 
ber, 1877,  and  in  January,  1878,  large  packages  of  these  bonds  and  bids 
sent  to  them  in  blank  with  directions  or  with  the  request  to  obtain 
sureties  upon  the  bonds  and  to  have  them  signed.  Those  bids  and 
bonds  thus  in  blank  were  sent  to  several  of  these  postmasters  by  Ste- 
phen W.  Dorsey  with  letters  desiring  that  they  should  be  executed. 
They  were  postmasters  whom  Mr.  Dorsey  had  been  influential  in  secur- 
ing the  appointment  of  to  office.  They  were  sent  with  letters  request- 
ing to  have  sureties  secured  and  to  fill  up  the  bonds  and  return  to  him,  and 
emphasizing  the  statement  of  the  letter  that  they  must,  under  no  cir- 
cumstances, let  anybody  know  that  these  papers  came  from  him ;  that 
his  connection  with  the  case  must  be  kept  entirely  secret.  Such  bonds 
as  that  were  sent  to  various  postmasters,  whom  he  obviously  thought 
he  could  rely  upon.  But  human  nature  was  better  than  he  thought, 
and  various  of  these  postmasters  either  disregarded  his  requests  and 
passed  them  by  in  silence  or  remonstrated  with  him.  Among  others 
was  a  postmaster  at  Fort  Smith,  Mr.  Cleudenning,  who  wrote  Mr.  Dor- 
sey, calling  his  attention  to  the  fact  that  it  could  not  be  that  he  remem- 
bered the  provisions  of  law  and  that  he  desired  him  to  go  on  and  do 
this  thing  which  he  had  requested  in  view  of  the  law,  and  in  requesting 
it,  let  me  say,  he  had  sent  in  his  own  handwriting  little  pieces  of  paper 
giving  directions  in  detail  how  the  whole  thing  was  to  be  done  ;  what 
was  to  be  written  in  by  the  sureties  and  everything  of  that  sort,  and 
all  these  bids  that  he  sent  there  were  absolute  blanks.  He  requested 
them  to  be  filled  up  by  the  sureties  in  direct  violation  of  law,  and 
in  that  connection  it  is  significant  that  this  direction  from  the  Post- 
Office  Department  to  the  postmasters  that  they  must  not  fill  up  a  bond 
unless  the  bid  attached  to  it  was  completed  was  omitted  on  the  form  of 
blanks  which  Dorsey  sent  out.  The  postmaster  at  Fort  Smith,  among 
others,  remonstrated  and  declined  to  comply  with  Mr.  Dorsey's  request, 
and  it  led  to  a  rather  animated  correspondence.  We  shall  put  that  cor- 


80 

respondence  before  you,  gentlemen.  We  shall  put  before  you  the  orig- 
inal paper  sent  by  Mr.  Dorsey.  We  shall  put  the  postmaster  before 
you,  and  he  will  show  you  the  whole  condition  of  that  matter. 

As  to  all  this,  gentlemen,  bear  in  mind  the  statute  which  forbade  a 
Senator  to  be  interested  in  any  contract.  Mr.  Dorsey  was  careful  to 
say  that  he  was  acting  for  a  friend ;  that  he  was  doing  a  friend  a  kind- 
ness, and  had  no  interest  in  it ;  but  he  was  very  particular  that  nobody 
•should  even  know  he  was  doing  that  friend  a  kindness.  He  was  not 
going  to  let  his  right  hand  know  what  his  left  hand  was  doing.  These 
bids  having  been  prepared  in  Dorsey's  house,  we  find  this  condition  of 
things.  Save  in  the  single  State  of  Kansas,  Mr.  Peck,  John  W.  Dorsey,  and 
Miner  never  in  bidding,  1  think — there  may  be  exceptional  instances — 
came  in  conflict  with  each  other.  They  put  in  in  the  aggregate  a  thou- 
sand or  more  bids.  Any  two  of  them  never  bid  upon  the'  same  route. 
There  may  be,  and  I  think  there  are,  one  or  two  exceptional  cases  where 
there  apparently  is  a  reason  for  it;  but  that  is  the  rule.  So  that  they 
did  not  come  into  conflict  with  each  other,  and  there  is  no  question  upon 
that.  They  got  under  those  bids  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  contracts. 
The  contracts  took  effect  on  the  1st  of  July,  1878.  Mr.  Stephen  W.  Dorsey 
will  be  shown  to  you  as  constantly  interested,  constantly  intervening  on 
behalf  of  these  parties,  and  of  course  the  claim,  I  presume,  will  be  made 
that  he  was  doing  a  brotherly  act  merely,  but  as  soon  as  Mr.  Dorsey  went 
out  of  the  Senate,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1879,  within,  I  think,  less  than 
thirty  days  after  that  time,  Mr.  Stephen  W.  Dorsey  appears  publicly 
as  interested  in  all  or  a  certain  portion  of  these  contracts  which  had 
been  obtained.  I  called  your  attention  to  the  fact,  gentlemen,  that  in 
bidding  for  these  contracts  they  bid  only  on  the  routes,  as  a  general 
thing,  which  were  of  slow  time,  \\here  expedition  could  be  obtained, 
or  where  the  service  was  infrequent — one,  two,  or  three  trips  a 
Week — where  an  increase  of  trips  could  be  obtained.  In  passing 
let  me  say  that  Mr.  Vaile,  whenever  he  did  come  into  the  conspiracy, 
probably  as  early  as  July,  1878,  seems  to  have  protected  himself  in  a 
measure  by  taking  a  large  number  of  subcontracts,  and  so  far  as  the 
files  of  the  department  show,  he  appears  as  being  as  early  as  that  the 
subcontractor  on  some  fifty  or  sixty  of  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-four 
routes  which  these  parties  obtained,  beinc:  the  subcontractor  of  record, 
but  not  necessarily  or  generally  the  subcontractor  who  was  performing 
the  service,  but  his  subcontract  was  filed  with  the  effect  certainly  ot 
protecting  the  subcontractor  who  was  performing  the  service  from  hav- 
ing any  recognition  from  the  Government,  or  the  terms  of  a  real  sub- 
contract from  ever  becoming  known  to  the  Government. 

I  have  said  that  these  contracts  were  obtained,  and  that  Stephen  W. 
Dorsey  became  openly  interested  in  them  as  early  as  April,  1879.  At 
some  time  after  that  there  seems  to  have  been  in  form  or  in  fact  some- 
thing in  the  nature  of  a  division.  They  seem  to  have  cut  up  their 
routes  in  a  measure.  Miner  seems  to  have  taken  certain  routes,  Stephen 
W.  Dorsey  seems  to  have  taken  certain  routes,  and  Peck  seems  to  have 
taken  certain  routes,  but  they  also  seem  to  have  at  once  u  pooled 
their  issues  "  in  a  measure.  Miner  and  Vaile  certainly  acted  from  that 
time  together  in  all  matters,  and  the  parties  continued  apparently  to 
take  an  active  interest  even  in  the  routes  which  had  been  in  form 
assigned  to  one  of  the  others,  and  Mr.  Brady  recognized  their  authority 
so  to  do.  For  instance,  on  the  route  from  Pueblo  to  Kosita,  Mr.  John 
W.  Dorsey  nominally  stating  himself  to  be  the  subcontractor,  made  the 
affidavit  upon  which  the  expedition  was  obtained.  He  was  not  subcon- 
tractor, he  was  not  contractor.  He  was  not  in  any  manner  connected 


81 

with  the  route  except  as  a  fellow  member  of  the  conspiracy,  a  coconspir- 
atpr ;  knowledge  of  that  was  not  a  knowledge  of  course  of  record  at  the 
Post-Office,  but  was  a  knowledge  which  was  obtained  of  an  illegitimate 
relation,  and  yet  the  position  was  recognized  by  Brady  as  sufficient  to 
enable  him  to  make  the  affidavit  which  the  regulation,  which  is  a  law, 
required  to  be  made  by  the  contractor,  and  he  recognized  John  W. 
Dorsey's  authority  to  make  it  upon  that  route.  On  the  route  from 
Trinidad  to  Madison,  Mr.  John  W.  Dorsey  did  precisely  the  same 
thing,  and  yet  had  no  relation  to  it.  Miner  was  the  contractor,  and 
Stephen  W.  Dorsey  was  the  subcontractor  by  a  contract  not  then  filed, 
but  John  W.  Dorsey  was  the  man  who  was  recognized  by  Mr.  Brady  as 
being  sufficient  to  make  the  affidavit  on  which  the  expedition  was  based. 

On  route  38145,  from  Ojo  Caliente  to  Parrott  City,  John  it.  Miner 
writes  a  letter,  which  he  says  he  does  at  the  request  of  Stephen  W. 
Dorsey,  then  in  the  Senate.  He  makes  the  request  in  consequence  of  the 
absence  of  John  W.  Dorsey,  who  was  out  in  the  Territories  in  connec- 
tion with  some  of  these  other  routes.  Miner  wrote  at  the  request  of 
Stephen  W.  Dorsey,  and  on  behalf  of  John  W.  Dorsey,  to  a  personal 
friend  and  acquaintance  of  Stephen's  to  take  the  subcontract,  and  carry 
the  mail  upon  that  route. 

Ou  the  route  from  Yermillion  to  Sioux  Falls  Mr.  Harvey  M.  Yaile 
makes  the  affidavit,  though  he  was  not  the  contractor.  He  was  the  nomi- 
nal subcontractor,  so  far  as  the  records  of  the  department  show,  while 
in  point  of  fact  the  service  was  being  performed  by  an  entire  I  y  different 
person,  whom  we  shall  place  before  you. 

On  the  route  from  Eugene  City  to  Bridge  Creek  John  M.  Peck  was 
the  contractor,  and  yet  Mr.  Stephen  W.  Dorsey  appears  in  connection 
with  that  route  in  a  somewhat  manifold  capacity,  which  I  will  not  stop 
here  to  detail  to  you. 

On  the  route  from  Mineral  Park  to  Pioche  Mr.  John  W.  Dorsey  was 
the  contractor.  Mr.  John  M.  Peck,  in  a  letter  written  by  John  R.  Miner, 
requests  the  Post-Office  Department  to  authorize  him  to  sublet  that 
contract.  Under  the  law  no  contract  can  be  sublet  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  Post-Office  Department.  John  W.  Dorsey  being  the  con- 
tractor, John  M.  Peck,  a  man  who,  on  the  record,  certainly  had  no  con- 
nection with  the  route,  writes  to  Brady  asking  permission  to  sublet 
that  contract.  Mr.  Brady  authorizes  him  to  sublet  the  contract  and 
recognizes  the  contract  which  was  made  in  pursuance  of  that  provision. 
And  yet  Peck,  in  whose  name  the  letter  was  written,  and  Miner,  who 
wrote  it,  were  equally  strangers,  so  far  as  the  Post-Office  Department 
knew,  to  the  contract,  and  had  no  relation  to  it.  They  had  a  series  of 
firms  and  they  were  as  miscellaneous  as  possible.  There  was  Miner, 
Peck  &  Co. ;  there  was  Miner,  Vaile  &  Co. ;  there  was  Miner,  Dorsey  & 
Co. ;  there  was  J.  W.  Dorsey  &  Co.,  and  the  u  babies  were  interchanged" 
generally.  There  was  no  danger  of  their  getting  lost,  however,  because 
the  parties  were  all  mutually  interested.  Subsequent  to  that  time,  and  at 
various  periods  as  we  go  along,  you  will  find  Mr.  Stephen  W.  Dorsey  en- 
gaged in  getting  up  petitions,  writing  to  his  old  triends,  and  calling 
upon  them  to  help  him  in  getting  up  petitions  and  in  writing  letters  to 
aid  in  advancing  these  contracts  and  the  interests  of  these  contractors. 
He  did  so  at  first  with  an  entire  concealment  of  his  own  interest 
in  the  matter.  But  after  he  ceased  to  be  United  States  Senator,  and 
the  statute  upon  that  subject  ceased  to  apply  to  him,  he  threw  off 
the  mask,  and  did  the  business  more  openly  if  not  more  generally.  We 
think  we  shall  be  able  to  show  you,  gentlemen,  from  tLeseaml  other 
facts  which  I  will  not  stop  to  repeat,  that  all  t'nese  parties  were  inter- 
6  G  B 


82 

ested  in  those  routes,  and  that  they  continued  interested  in  the  routes 
after  the  nominal  division;  but  whether  they  did  or  did  not  continue 
their  actual  interest  is  a  matter  of  very  little  importance,  if  they  entered 
into  the  conspiracy  and  got  from  the  Government  certain  contracts 
which  were  their  capital  in  business,  which  they  were  going  to  use  in 
defrauding  the  Government.  It  made  very  little  difference  whether 
they  took  their  profits  by  taking  a  portion  of  the  joint  profits  of  all  of 
the  routes  or  whether  they  divided,  so  to  speak,  their  capital,  and  each 
one  took  all  the  profits  on  a  particular  block  of  the  route.  The  loss  to 
the  Government  was  the  same,  the  fraud  and  injury  was  the  same. 

This  being  the  relation  of  these  parties  to  the  conspiracy  we  then  find 
the  actors  all  placed  ready  to  perform  their  parts,  and  the  question  is 
now  what  in  detail  did  they  do  so  far  as  concerns  the  different  routes? 
Therefore,  gentlemen,  1  propose  very  briefly  to  take  up  the  evidence 
which  we  shall  submit  to  you  in  connection  with  each  one  of  the  routes 
named  in  this  indictment. 

On  route  34149,  from  Kearney  to  Kent,  the  contract  was  let  basing  it 
on  the  advertisement  as  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles,  for  service 
once  a  week.  John  M.  Peck  became  the  contractor  at  $808  a  year. 
On  the  24th  of  September,  1878,  there,  was  made  one  of  those  little  ad- 
ditions of  a  town  called  Fitzalon,  which  was  alleged  to  add  fifteen  miles, 
more  or  less,  to  the  route.  That  matter  is  a  little  complicated,  arising 
from  a  change  of  the  route.  We  claim  that  the  order  was  entirely  un- 
authorized. Primarily  a  small  sum  of  a  hundred  and  odd  dollars  re- 
sulted as  an  emolument  to  the  contractor,  but  after  it  was  counted  in 
the  problem  in  connection  with  expedition  the  amount  was  added  to 
very  greatly.  On  the  10th  of  July,  1879,  a  year  after  the  contract  was 
let,  two  trips  were  added  over  a  portion  of  the  route,  that  from  Kearney 
to  Loup  City.  In  consequence  of  the  addition  of  those  two  trips  there 
was  added  to  the  original  pay  of  $868,  $1,122.41.  At  the  same  time 
that  the  three  trips  were  added  the  time  was  reduced  to  thirteen  hours, 
and  there  was  added  in  consequence  of  that  $2,200  to  the  contractor's 
pay.  That  carried  the  whole  amount  up  to  $4,302.05.  The  post-offices 
on  that  route  produced  an  average  of  $o94  to  the  Government.  The  ter- 
minal post-offices  were  situated  upon  railroads  running  east  and  west, 
and  the  receipts  of  Kearney  are  not  counted  in  this  statement,  as  they 
came  from  mail  carried  on  the  railroad.  1  have  already  called  your 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  mail-matter,  after  it  got  out  a  few  miles 
on  the  route,  amounted  only  to  twenty  or  thirty  pounds.  Now,  on  that 
route  where  they  got  originally  $808,  one  French  became  the  subcon- 
tractor at  $700.  So  that  at  the  outset  Peck,  who  was  the  nominal 
contractor,  had  a  profit  of  $108.  When  the  contract  was  increased  in 
July,  1879,  to  three  trips  French  received  $1,587.40  in  all,  and  did  all 
the  service,  and  Peck  received  $2,715.08,  and  did  no  service.  Mr. 
French  will  be  on  the  stand  before  you,  and  will  testify  as  to  the  proper 
amount  to  be  allowed  for  the  service  and  the  condition  of  things  there. 
Mr.  French  made  a  contract,  and  we  shall  produce  to  you  the  letters  pass- 
ing between  him  and  John  W.  Dorsey  in  connection  with  that  contract 
in  which  there  was  a  stipulation  that  he  was  to  have  05  per  cent,  of  the 
amount  allowed  for  expedition.  When  expedition  came  for  which  $2.200 
was  allowed  Mr.  French  received  no  portion  of  that  sum,  though  he 
knew  that  the  schedule  had  been  changed.  It  had  been  changed  so  little 
that  it  made  little,  if  any,  difference  in  the  time  which  he  took  in  going 
over  the  route.  He  was  already  going  over  the  route  in  about  the  expe- 
dited time.  They  corresponded  with  him  and  Miner,  Peck  &  Co.  re- 
mitted him  his  quarterly  pay?  and  left  him  in  entire  ignorance  that 


83 

there  had  been  any  payment  by  the  department  for  expedition,  although 
he  was  entitled  to  65  per  cent,  of  the  $2,200.  Mr.  French  jogged  over 
that  route  with  his  horses  day  in  and  day  out,  and  performed  all  the 
service  that  was  ever  performed  ;  earned  all  the  money  that  was  ever 
eamed  and  never  learned  that  the  department  was  paying  $2,200  for 
expedited  time  which  he,  if  anybody,  was  making,  but  which,  in  point  of 
fact,  did  not  change  the  time  made  to  any  serious  extent,  until  after  this 
investigation  was  set  on  foot,  when  a  post-office  inspector  going  out  on 
his  route  conveyed,  by  accident,  to  Mr.  French  the  first  knowledge  that 
he  had  that  there  had  ever  been  any  expedition,  and  that  he  was  enti- 
tled to  the  65  per  cent,  of  $2,200 under  his  contract.  Now  that  was  simply 
a  private  fraud  upon  Mr.  French  of  which  you  cannot  take  any  cogni- 
zance. I  only  mention  it  in  connection  with  this  route  as  showing 
the  conduct  of  these  parties,  and  showing  how  unnecessary  it  was  to 
pay  money  for  expedition  when  the  man  who  rendered  the  service  was 
to  get  none  of  it.  That,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  is  the  same  route  on 
which  the  other  branch  of  fraud  took  place,  to  which  I  referred,  Mr. 
Peck  having  as  early  as  February,  and  away  out  in  Xew  Mexico,  found 
out  by  some  intuition  that  Mr.  Brady  was  going  to  want  to  know  just 
how  many  horses  would  be  required  to  make  that  service  in  thirteen 
hours.  So  he  made  his  affidavit  in  February  to  that  effect,  and  there 
was  never  any  petition  or  paper  of  any  kind  on  file  asking  for  thirteen 
hours,  excepting  the  altered  petition  into  which  thirteen  hours  was  boldly 
inserted  in  a  different  handwriting  after  it  was  received  hereby  John  K. 
Miner.  I  think  we  shall  be  able  to  show  by  whom  it  was  inserted. 
That  was  the  route  on  which  the  forged  petition  was.  That  forged  pe- 
tition was  the  only  paper,  and  it  was  used  as  the  basis  of  an  order  for 
expedition  which  took  $2,200  a  year  out  of  the  Treasury  to  pay  not  to 
the  man  who  rendered  the  service,  but  to  the  men  who  sat  here  in  Wash- 
ington and  did  nothing. 

Route  38135,  from  Saint  Charles  to  Greenhorn,  was  originally  let  as 
thirty-five  miles  long,  at  a  schedule  time  of  twelve  and  a  half  hours.  In. 
point  of  fact  the  distance  from  Saint  Charles  to  Greenhorn  was  only  twenty- 
three  miles.  It  ought  originally  to  have  been  advertised  as  from  Pueblo  to 
Greenhorn,  because  Saint  Charles  was  merely  a  water-tank.  There  was 
no  village  there  at  all.  The  tank  was  three  or  four  miles  from  the 
traveled  road  and  on  the  railroad.  At  that  water-tank  the  trains  did 
not  generally  stop.  The  advertisement  was  persisted  in  by  Brady r 
though  his  attention  was  called  to  it  before  the  contract  was  let  and 
though  a  post-office  inspector  reported  upon  the  subject  to  him.  The  dis- 
tance, as  I  said,  to  Saint  Charles  was  only  twenty-three  miles.  By  and  by 
Mr.  Brady  proceeded  to  increase  the  route  by  extending  it  from  Saint 
Charles  to  Pueblo.  This  added  twelve  miles,  and  made  it,  in  point  of  fact, 
thirty-five  miles,  which  was  just  as  advertised,  but  Mr.  Brady  treated  it 
as  a  lengthening  of  the  route  and  allowed  for  that  twelve  miles  an  addi- 
tional compensation  of  $328.80.  My  friend  has  drawn  here  substantially 
a  sketch  of  the  route.  [Exhibiting  sketch  to  jury.|  The  contract  was  let 
on  that  route  at  $548  a  year.  When  Brady  extended  it  from  Saint 
Charles  to  Pueblo  he  added  $328.80  to  it  so  as  to  make  the  con- 
tract price  $808,  or  a  little  over  that.  At  the  very  time  that  he 
ordered  the  additional  pay  there  was  on  file  in  the  department  a  tem- 
porary contract  made  by  the  postmaster  out  there  for  carrying  the  mail 
over  the  whole  route  for  $612.  So  that  Mr.  Brady  paid  $868  while  there 
was  on  file  the  contract  of  the  subcontractor  showing  that  he  was  willing 
to  perform  the  service  over  the  whole  route  for  $612,  and  also  showing 
that  the  amount  which  Mr.  Brady  allowed  for  the  added  twelve  miles — 


84 

$320 — was  greatly  in  excess  of  the  amount  which  the  subcontractor  was 
actually  getting  for  it,  and  that  by  a  temporary  contract  made  by  his 
own  postmaster.  You  will  bear  in  mind  that  when  anybody  enters  into 
such  a  temporary  contract  with  the  Post-Office  Department  they  must 
necessaril}'  expect  to  be  paid  more  than  a  man  does  who  enters  into  a 
contract  to  carry  the  mail  for  four  years,  because  the  temporary  contract 
can  be  terminated  at  any  time,  subjecting  the  contractor  to  a  loss.  Now. 
the  service  having  been  carried  by  Brady  up  to  $868  a  year,  of  which 
the  subcontractor  got  $612,  it  was  increased  by  Brady  on  the  14th  of 
July,  1870,  one  year  after  the  contract  went  into  effect,  to  $3, 945. CO.  The 
supposititious  twelve  miles  between  Saint  Charles  and  Pueblo,  which 
did  not  extend  the  advertised  length  of  the  route,  and  for  which  $320 
was  paid,  was  made,  when  it  came  to  expedition,  to  take  from  the 
Treasury  $1,479.00  a  year,  being  nearly  three  times  the  amount  of  the 
original  contract  for  the  whole  route.  That  contract  continued  in  force 
in  those  terms,  except  that  the  route  was  at  one  time  run  up  to  $4,314.50, 
during  the  entire  time  that  Thomas  J.  Brady  was  Second  Assistant 
Postmaster-General.  If  he  had  spent  the  money  in  giving  to  that  route 
a  daily  service  instead  of  this  pretended  expedited  time  he  could  have 
given  daily  service  to  all  the  people  upon  the  route,  although  they  did 
not  need  it  much  more  than  they  needed  the  expedited  time,  for  a  con- 
siderable less  amount  of  money  than  he  chose  to  waste  upon  these  con- 
tractors for  performing  the  service  three  times  a  week  upon  that  alleged 
expedited  time.  That  expedition  was  obtained  on  the  affidavit  of  John 
E.  Miner,  who  swore  on  the  7th  of  April,  1879,  that  on  the  then  exist- 
ing schedule  it  took  one  man  and  two  horses  to  perform  the  service  and 
that  when  it  was  reduced  to  the  time  to  which  Mr.  Brady  reduced  it,  it 
would  take  four  men  and  seven  horses.  In  point  of  fact  it  took  only 
one  man  and  two  horses  to  perform  the  original  schedule,  and  in  point 
of  fact  it  took  only  one  man  and  two  horses  to  perform  the  increased 
service  for  which  Mr.  Brady  paid  two  or  three  thousand  dollars  a  year, 
and  it  took  the  same  man  and  the  same  horses  all  the  time.  There 
was  no  change  whatever.  There  was  110  authority  under  the  law  to  pay 
a  dollar  out  of  the  Treasury  unless  there  was  an  increase  of  men  and 
horses,  yet  we  shall  place  before  you  the  man  who  was  performing  that 
service  and  driving  the  horses,  and  he  will  testify  that  there  was  no  ad- 
dition to  the  stock  or  carriers  in  consequence  of  the  expedition.  There- 
fore the  order  of  Mr.  Brady  for  the  benefit  of  these  defendants  was 
clearly  illegal.  There  was  a  little  steal  on  that  route  to  which  I  may 
just  as  well  call  your  attention  in  passing.  I  think  I  said  something 
about  it  before.  They  added  the  town  of  Agate,  which  was  on  a  little 
spur,  and  they  allowed  $369.90  a  year  for  it.  Not  one  pound  of  mail 
ever  went  to  Agate.  The  carrier  never  wei<t  to  Agate.  There  never 
was  a  day's  service  performed  or  an  hour's  service.  The  postmaster  so 
reported,  and  after  a  time  Mr.  Brady  countermanded  the  order  for  serv- 
ice, after  two  or  three  months.  He  allowed  for  the  service  which  had 
not  been  performed  and  which  the  postmaster  told  him  had  not  been 
performed,  and  he  also  came  in  and  allowed  the  mouth's  extra  pay  which 
is  allowed  upon  the  discontinuance  of  service  that  is  being  performed. 
He  allowed  a  month's  extra  pay  there  on  service  that  was  not  being  per- 
formed as  the  record  of  his  own  department  shows,  because  he  was  re- 
scinding the  order  for  the  service  upon  the  express  ground  that  it  had 
not  been  performed.  Here  1  ought  to  say  that  I  told  you  that  Mr.  Rerdell's 
lock-box  714  would  appear  in  various  places  in  this  case  ;  it  was  to  that 
box  or  to  box  706  that  by  notice  filed  in  the  Post  Office  Department 
all  communications  were  to  be  sent.  This  expedition,  for  which  Brady 


85 

paid  two  or  three  thousand  dollars,  was  granted  on  a  petition 
which  stated  the  necessity  for  communication  with  the  outer  world, 
with  the  East,  where  lived  the  friends  and  correspondents  of  the 
people  of  that  section.  It  was  not  for  the  benefit  of  the  population 
along  the  route,  communicating  between  themselves,  but  was  for  corre- 
spondence passingbeyond.  Yet  Mr.  Brady  having  made  this  expedition  at 
this  expense,  immediately  proceeded  to  put  in  force  a  schedule  so  ar- 
ranged that  the  mail  arrived  at  Pueblo  just  after  the  mail  east  and  west 
had  both  left,  and  therefore  there  was  no  possibility  of  communication 
either  way.  All  the  excuse,  all  the  pretense  for  the  order  of  expedition 
was  simply  that  the  mails  might  reach  the  East  quickly,  and  yet  this 
result  was  not  reached  because  they  laid  over  at  Pueblo  so  many  hours, 
Pueblo  being  an  important  railroad  station.  On  that  route  there  were 
but  two  intermediate  offices,  Greenhorn  and  Muddy  Creek.  Saint 
Charles  was  no  office.  The  revenue  of  the  Muddy  Creek  post-office  was 
819.80  $  the  revenue  of  the  Greenhorn  post-office  was  $145 ;  making 
an  aggregate  revenue  on  that  route  of  $164.80,  and  yet  Brady  paid 
83,945.60  for  carrying  the  mail  over  it.  Moreover  the  expedition  was 
made  upon  that  route  upon  petitions  looking  to  "  quicker  time,"  not 
specifying  any  time  in  particular,  upon  petitions  which  are  worded 
identically  and  are  in  the  same  handwriting*,  and  were  transmitted  to 
the  department  by  Miner,  the  contractor  to  be  benefited,  and  his 
affidavit  was,  I  think,  taken  and  allowed  to  fix  the  amount  which  should 
be  paid  to  himself.  That  affidavit  was  grossly  incorrect.  Several  of 
the  petitions  upon  that  route  were  also  interlined  obviously  after  they 
were  prepared,  and  they  are  interlined  in  the  handwriting  of  Moutfort 
C.  Eerdell,  one  of  these  defendants. 

Route  41119,  from  Toquerville  to  Adairville,  was  let  as  one  hundred 
and  thirty-two  miles  long.  The  schedule  of  time  was  sixty  hours,  the 
number  of  trips  per  week  one,  and  John  M.  Peck,  the  contractor,  was  to 
receive  from  the  Government  $1,168  a  year.  Before  the  service  com- 
menced notice  was  given  that  the  address  was  to  be  lock-box  714,  care 
of  M.  C.  Rerdell.  On  the  8th  of  March,  1879,  Harvey  M.  Yaile  became 
subcontractor  by  a  contract  dated  the  1st  of  April,  1878.  It  was  after 
the  contracts  had  been  awarded,  therefore,  and  before  the  contract  term 
commenced  by  two  months,  and  that  shows  Mr.  Yaile's  connection  at 
least  with  that  route  as  early  as  April,  1878,  or  else  the  subcontract  is 
a  lie.  That  subcontract  was  signed  by  John  R.  Miner,  as  attorney  for 
John  M.  Peck.  It  was  withdrawn  on  the  8th  of  May,  1879,  after  it 
had  been  on  file  two  mouths,  and  a  subcontract  was  put  on  file  with  M. 
C.  Rerdell.  That  subcontract,  like  Yaile's  subcontract,  was  also  dated 
the  1st  of  April,  1878.  There  were  successively  placed  on  file  two 
subcontracts  in  favor  of  two  separate  defendants,  both  of  those  subcon- 
tracts bearing  date,  and  claiming  to  have  been  executed,  on  the  1st 
day  of  April,  1878,  and  each  one  being  entitled  to  the  whole  amount 
of  pay  on  the  route.  Rerdell's  contract  pretends  to  be  dated  on  the 
1st  of  April,  1878,  and  specifies  that  the  pay  of  the  route  is  $3,504. 
Xow,  gentlemen,  we  have  this  extraordinary  condition  of  things :  The 
Amount  of  pay  on  that  route  did  not  become  $3,504  until  the  10th  d*y 
of  Xovember,'l878,  and  yet  this  contract  dated  on  the  1st  of  April,  1878, 
states  the  pay  at  that  amount.  Was  the  subcontract  a  fraud  in  its 
date,  or  did  Miner,  Rerdell  &  Co.  then  know  that  they  had  perfecUMl 
an  arrangement  with  Thomas  J.  Brady,  by  which  the  amount  to  bo 
paid  to  the  Government  was  to  be  run  up  to  $3,504.98  ?  We  are  going 
to  ask  yon  to  draw  the  latter  inference  from  the  facts.  On  the  8th  of 
May,  Rerdell  having  put  his  subcontract  on  file,  and  forgotten,  appar- 


86 

ently,  that  he  had  already  directed  how  he  should  be  addressed,  wrote 
to  the  Post-Office  Department  to  be  sure  and  address  everything-  to 
him.  On  the  12th  of  April,  1679,  before  the  original  contract  had  been 
placed  on  file,  and  but  a  year  after  its  date,  Eerdell  wrote  as  agent  for  the 
original  contractor — assuming,  apparently,  that  Peck  had  still  some 
interest — to  one  Kephi  Johnson,  a  subcontractor  on  the  route,  to  get 
up  petitions,  have  them  numerously  signed,  giving  the  precise  form  in 
which  the  petitions  were  to  be  prepared.  He  said,  "  This  is  the  gen- 
eral form.  Do  not  use  the  precise  language.  Give  as  many  reasons  as 
you  can  for  increasing  the  service  and  expediting  the  time.  Get  letters 
to  the  Postmaster-General.  Get  your  Delegate  stirred  up,  and  gen- 
erally do  everything  you  can  to  manufacture  public  opinion."  On 
the  l()th  of  July,  1870,  Mr.  John  W.  Dorsey  turns  up  as  having  some 
kind  of  an  interest  in  that  route,  and  he  writes  to  Johnson  to  the  same 
effect  and  incloses  a  petition  which  he  wants  to  have  Johnson  sign  and 
then  send  it  to  Mr.  Cannon,  the  Delegate  from  the  Territory.  On  the 
5th  of  May,  1879,  after  Rerdell  had  written  his  letter  asking  that  the 
petition  should  be  gotten  up,  and  before  the  letter  of  John  W.  Dorsey, 
Mr.  Stephen  W.  Dorse\,  who  had  recently  gone  out  of  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States  and  could  therefore  openly  appear,  wrote  to  Johnson, 
urging  him  to  keep  on  and  guaranteeing  him  that  he,  Stephen  W.  Dor- 
sey, would  be  responsible  to  him  for  the  pay  for  the  mail  service,  and 
everything  of  that  kind.  A  little  later  Mr.  John  W.  Dorsey  went  out 
there  and  had  an  interview  with  Mr.  Johnson.  He  told  Johnson  that 
certain  parties  in  Washington  were  members  of  the  combination  and 
that  they  had  a  great  deal  of  influence  in  Washington.  About  the  same 
period  or  a  little  earlier — for  the  dates  and  the  different  actors  in  this 
matter  are  somewhat  mixed — on  the  5th  of  May,  1879,  Stephen  W.  Dor- 
sey wrote  to  Johnson,  inclosing  a  new  contract,  which  was  to  be  signed. 
He  gave  as  an  excuse  for  wanting  a  new  contract  signed,  there  having 
been  one  subcontract  Avith  him,  that  there  had  been  a  dissolution  of  the 
firm.  He  did  not  tell  what  the  firm  was,  but  it  was  some  firm  of  which 
Stephen  W.  Dorsey  had  been  a  member,  and  which  he  had  managed  to 
become  a  member  of  certainly  a  considerable  time  prior  to  the  5th  of 
May,  1879,  for  on  that  day  it  was  dissolved.  Mr.  Dorsey  was  a  member 
of  it  when  it  was  dissolved,  and  he  had  not  gone  out  of  the  Senate  until 
the  4th  of  March,  1879.  At  any  rate,  he  had  got  into  the  firm  on  the 
record  and  dissolved  it,  and  then  he  sent  out  to  have  a  new  subcon- 
tract executed  with  Johnson,  and  that  new  subcontract  contains  some 
printed  clauses  which  were  nicely  calculated  to  entrap  Mr.  Johnson,  and 
which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  show  to  you. 

On  the  8th  of  July,  1879,  a  little  later  on,  five  trips  were  added  to 
the  route.  Then  there  was  an  expedition,  and  as  the  result  $2,336  were 
first  added  to  the  compensation,  and  after  that  $4,072  were  added. 
The  time  was  expedited  from  sixty  hours  to  thirty-three  hours,  and 
they  added  $12,718.22,  the  result  being  that  the  original  contract  of 
$1,108  got  up  in  a  little  over  twelve  months  to  $20,890.22,  and  of 
that  sum  the  subcontractor  who  did  the  work  got  $7,444,  and  Stephen 
W.  Dorsey  and  his  associates  got  $12,450.  The  increase  of  trips  and 
expedition  on  this  route  commenced  on  the  1st  of  August,  but  on  the 
June  previous  the  terminal  post-office  had  been  discontinued  and  notice 
given  to  Brady.  Therefore  there  was  no  mail  to  go  over  ten  miles  of  the 
route,  and  no  post-office  to  carry  it  to.  Brady,  on  the  8th  of  July,  made 
the  order  giving  expedition  and  adding  for  it  812,722.  At  that  time  he 
had  had  notice  that  over  ten  miles  of  the  route  there  was  and  could  be 
no  service,  and  yet  he  made  the  order  for  expedition  over  the  whole 


87 

route.  Having'  made  that  order  on  the  8th  of  July,  on  the  14th  of  July, 
six  days  later,  he  made  his  order  cutting  oft  ten  miles  of  service,  and 
said  the  contractor  should  have  a  month's  extra  pay.  That  order,  in 
effect,  said,  "  By  virtue  of  the  order  made  on  the  8th  of  July,  long  after 
I  knew  there  was  no  service  on  that  part  of  the  route,  I  will  yet  pay  for 
the  ten  miles  a  month's  extra  pay,  and  I  will  reckon  the  amount  not  on 
the  compensation  of  $1,168,  but  on  the  compensation  of  $20.890.22." 
You  do  not  need  to  be  much  of  arithmeticians  to  see  how  nicely  the 
Government  was  cheated  by  that  little  transaction;  nor  can  you  tell  for 
whose  benefit  it  was  other  than  that  of  the  contractors,  unless  it  was  for 
the  benefit  of  Thomas  J.  Brady.  By  going  a  little  more  into  detail  on 
that  route  you  will  see  that  the  expedition  was  obtained  by  an  order 
made  in  June  or  July,  on  the  affidavit  of  Peck,  dated  in  the  January  pre- 
vious. Peck  then  knew  just  what  schedule  would  be  required.  He 
knew  in  January  that  Mr.  Brady  would  want  to  know  away  down  in 
July  how  many  men  and  horses  it  would  take  to  carry  that  mail  in  thirty- 
three  hours.  It  might  as  well  have  been  reduced  to  forty-eight  hours, 
or  to  twenty  hours,  or  any  other  number;  but  somehow  or  other  in  the 
previous  January  Mr.  Peck  knew  that  Mr.  Brady  would  want  to  cut  it 
down  to  thirty-three  hours,  and  he  swore  that  to  perform  the  service  in 
sixty  hours  would  take  three  men  and  six  horses,  and  in  thirty-three 
hours  five  men  and  eight  horses.  In  point  of  fact,  on  a  sixty-hour 
schedule,  it  took  about  the  number  of  men  and  horses  he  stated;  it 
took  four  men  and  ten  horses.  But  with  the  thirty-three-hour  schedule 
it  took  seven  men  and  fifteen  horses.  That  expedition  was  ordered  by 
Brady,  as  I  have  stated,  in  July,  1879.  After  it  had  been  done,  a  post- 
master on  the  route  reported  to  Brady  that  the  expedited  time  of  thir- 
ty-three hours  could  not  be  made  by  any  possibility;  that  the  people 
along  the  route  did  not  care  for  it,  and  he  added,  in  the  innocence  of 
his  heart,  "  it  it  costs  the  Government  anything,  I  think  you  had  better 
discontinue  it." 

It  cost  the  Government  the  difference  between  $1,100  and  $12,000. 
There  had  been  a  previous  letter  in  which  the  same  postmaster  had 
given  the  same  information.  This  is  the  route,  gentlemen,  upon  which 
John  W.  Dorsey  having  been  out  there  arranged  that  the  subcontractor 
should  get  $7,400,  and  that  he  and  his  associate  should  get  $12,450. 
Mr.  John  W.  Dorsey  wrote  him  that  that  "  brought  it  nearer  pro  rata 
than  any  trade  he  had  made  since  he  left  home."  From  that  you  can 
understand  precisely  what  these  defendants'  ideas  of  pro  rata  were. 
The  idea  is  that  the  man  who  does  the  service  shall  get  $7,500,  and  the 
man  in  Washington  who  arranges  for  getting  the  orders,  $12,400.  That 
petition  which  I  said  was  sent  to  Johnson  by  these  defendants  was 
duly  signed,  and  it  caine  back  just  before  the  order  was  made.  It  is 
on  file  in  the  department.  We  shall  produce  it  to  you,  and  we  shall 
show  you  just  how  many  persons  whose  names  purport  to  be  upon  it 
lived  along  the  route.  And  we  shall  show  you,  moreover,  this  extraor- 
dinary condition  of  things:  That  the  people  out  there  asked  for  a  re- 
duction to  only  forty-eight  hours,  and  Brady  made  the  order  to  re- 
duce it  to  thirty-three  hours.  Peck,  in  the  previous  January,  six 
months  before,  knew  that  Brady  was  going  to  make  an  order  for  thirty - 
three  hours,  and  Brady  made  it,  basing  it  upon  a  petition  which  in  ponit 
of  fact  asked  for  forty-eight  hours,  and  that  only,  ^sow,  a  little  fur- 
ther on,  in  April,  1880,  Mr.  Johnson  having  previously  sent  to  the  Post- 
Office  Department  through  Delegate  Cannon  a  remonstrance  signed  by 
all  the  postmasters  on  the  route,  stating  that  thirty-three  hours'  time 
was  unnecessary  if  not  impracticable,  and  recommending  a  restoration 


88 

to  sixty  hours,  Mr.  Camion  apparently  did  his  duty  and  apparently  put 
that  paper  on  tile,  for  we  find  that  on  the  3d  of  April,  1880,  Mr.  Ker- 
dell  writes  to  Mr.  Johnson,  "  We  have  increased  your  pay  $1,500,"  a 
voluntary  increase  of  pay.  Did  they  wish  him  to  suppose  they  were 
going*  into  the  general  benevolence  business?*  Then  he  goes  on  to  sayy 
u  We  make  this  allowance  in  order  to  have  the  service  remain  as  it  now 
exists.  We  understand  you  have  been  sending  letters  to  your  Delegate, 
asking  to  have  the  time  restored  according  to  the  old  schedule.  We 
want  you  to  write  to  him  to  withdraw  the  letters,  as  we  shall  lose 
money  if  the  service  is  changed  back  to  the  old  schedule.  As  it  is  we 
niakb  a  small  profit,"  which  means  we  get  $12,450  and  you  get  $8,400. 
"  We  make  a  small  profit." 

Eerdell  wrote  again  on  the  9th  of  May  to  Johnson,  in  which  letter  he 
wants  Delegate  Cannon  to  withdraw  that  remonstrance ;  and,  gentle- 
men, when  we  came  to  search  the  files  of  the  department  a  year  ago,, 
after  Mr.  Brady  had  gone  out  of  office,  that  petition  had  disappeared 
from  the  files  of  the  department,  though  there  was  no  way  in  which  it 
could  legally  or  honestly,  having  been  once  filed  there,  disappear.  But 
it  has  gone,  and  the  request  of  Miner  that  Johnson  should  write  ta 
Cannon  and  withdraw  the  remonstrance  was  carried  out,  and  Johnson 
did  write  to  Cannon,  because  of  this  fifteen  hundred  and  odd  dollars  a 
year  which  they  gave  him,  to  have  just  that  thing  done.  We  shall  ask 
you  to  consider  when  you  come  to  make  up  your  verdict  whether  they 
were  not  right  in  withdrawing  that  kind  of  remonstrance  coming  from 
every  postmaster  along  the  route  against  their  pay  when  Brady  was  pay- 
ing them  $12,400  for  doing  nothing.  There  had  got  to  be  some  pretense 
of  keeping  up  appearances.  That,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  ends  all  I 
have  to  say  upon  that  route,  and  I  suppose  this  is  as  good  a  time  for 
relieving  the  jury  for  a  brief  period  as  any  that  will  come. 

At  this  point  (1  o'clock  and  45  minutes  p.  in.)  the  court  took  its  usual 
recess. 


AFTER    RECESS. 

Mr.  BLISS.  [Eesuming,]  On  the  last  route,  gentlemen,  I  ought  to  have 
called  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  John  W.  Dorsey,  when  he  was 
out  in  Utah  upon  that  route,  told  Mr.  Johnson  that  Peck,  Miner  &  Co. 
were  interested  with  him  ;  that  they  had  some  two  hundred  contracts; 
that  they  had  a  great  deal  of  influence  in  Washington;  that  Brady 
was  a  very  fine  man.  And  in  his  letter  which  he  wrote  him,  sending 
him  petitions  to  be  circulated,  he  told  them  they  must  all  work  together 
or  none  of  them  would  get  along. 

On  the  route  from  Garland  to  Parrott  City,  which  was  originally  let 
at  288  miles,  the  time  to  be  seven  days,  and  to  be  one  trip  in  the  week,. 
John  W.  Dorsey  was  the  contractor,  at  $2,745  a  year.  There,  as  else- 
where, lock  box  714  was  the  place  of  address  for  letters.  There  were 
lock  box  700  and  lock  box  714,  which  were  used  by  these  different  par- 
ties, Rerdell,  perhaps,  using  lock  box  706  the  most  after  his  original 
experience  with  James  H.  Keitner  &  Co. 

On  the  1st  of  October,  1878,  on  this  route,  one  J.  H.  Watts  filed  a 
subcontract  by  which  he  was  to  get  fifty  per  cent,  of  all  expedition, 
making  a  contract  with  the  parties,  therefore,  as  early  as  that  looking 
to  expedition.  On  the  1st  of  January,  1879,  a  subcontract  was  made 
with  one  Anthony  Joseph,  a  gentleman  whom  we  shall  place  before 
you,  a  senator  of  the  Territorial  legislature  of  New  Mexico.  I  think  that 


89 

contract  was  not  filed,  though  made.  His  subcontract  continued  until 
about  the  27th  of  September,  1879,  when  the  contract  of  a  man  named 
Jaramillo  was  filed.  That  gentleman  we  shall  also  place  before  you. 
On  the  30th  of  January,  1880,  the  subcontract  of  one  Sanderson  was 
filed.  That  is  the  history, of  the  subcontracts 

On  that  route  as  early  as  the  10th  of  June,  1878,  twenty  days  be- 
fore the  contract  term  commenced,  Stephen  W.  Dorsey,  being  then 
still  in  the  Senate,  wrote  asking  that  the  service  be  made  daily,  it 
having  been  let  at  once  a  week.  He  asked  that  it  be  made  three 
times  a  week  and  that  it  be  given  a  fast  schedule,  and  claimed  that 
there  was  a  mistake  in  the  length  of  the  route  as  advertised.  On  the 
22d  of  December,  1878,  to  which  I  have  called  your  attention  in  another 
connection,  Mr.  John  E.  Miner,  at  the  request  of  Stephen  W.  Dorsey, 
who  indicates  his  interest  in  this  route,  writes  to  Mr.  Joseph  that  John 
W.  Dorsey  was  the  contractor  and  wants  Joseph  to  stock  and  run  the 
route.  Senator  Dorsey  and  Joseph  were  acquaintances,  if  not  friends. 
Joseph  went  on  and  stocked  and  commenced  running  the  route  without 
any  formal  contract.  Early  in  January,  1879,  Mr.  Eerdell  went  out  to 
^ew  Mexico  and  saw  Joseph  and  made  a  formal  contract  with  him.  In 
the  following  April  Mr.  Stephen  W.  Dorsey  sent  petitions  to  Joseph  to 
be  circulated  to  get  expedition  and  get  increase  of  pay,  and  giving  him 
forms  of  them,  and  telling  him  that  he  had  written  to  various  people, 
and  everything  of  that  sort,  and  saying  to  Joseph  that  he  guaranteed 
his  pay  for  the  service  that  he  was  performing  prior  to  that  time.  Four 
days  before  the  service  commenced  at  all  the  route  had  been  reduced, 
been  cut  off  by  the  deduction  of  116  miles  at  the  east  end  of  the  route, 
and  no  service  having  been  commenced  whatever,  the  month's  extra 
pay  was  allowed.  That,  I  am  bound  to  say,  seems  to  have  been  in 
accordance  with  the  practice  of  the  department,  though  working  some- 
what inequitably  to  the  Government.  Eighteen  miles  were  taken  off 
at  the  other  end,  and  Dorsey's  pay  was  reduced  to  $1,467.78.  By 
the  23d  of  January,  1879,  the  route  had  been  reduced  to  that  point, 
the  service  was  one  trip  a  week,  and  the  time,  which  was  originally 
seven  days,  was  reduced,  as  I  recollect  it,  to  between  four  and  five.  On 
the  24th  of  April,  1879,  twenty  miles  were  added,  and  the  amount  of  pay 
was  carried  up  correspondingly  so  as  to  become  $1,658.  That  was  the 
condition  in  which  the  route  was  by  the  1st  of  May,  1879.  Then  two 
trips  were  added  over  the  whole  route  at  an  expense  of  $3,316,  and  the 
time  was  reduced  to  fifty  hours.  Having  been  reduced  to  ninety  hours 
by  the  cutting  off  of  the  route,  it  was  further  reduced  to  fifty  hours, 
and  by  the  expedition  $8,457.84  was  added.  It  remained  in  that  con- 
dition until  January  1,  1881,  when  the  trips  having  been,  as  I  said 
before,  carried  up  to  three,  were  carried  up  to  seven,  and  $17,910.72 
were  added,  making  the  total  pay  from  the  Government  on  that  route 
$31,343.76,  where  the  original  amount  was  only  $2,745,  and  where,  by 
deducting  pro  rata  for  the  portions  of  the  route  which  were  taken  oft', 
the  amount  would  have  been  only  $1,467.78.  There  had  been  taken  off 
by  these  reductions  134  miles  of  its  length,  leaving  it  134  miles  long. 
The  record  of  productiveness  was  this :  The  average  receipts  of  all  the 
post-offices  upon  that  route  in  that  year  were  $194.96.  Of  the  amount 
which  was  allowed  for  expedition  at  a  time  when  there  were  only  three 
trips  the  subcontractor  received  $6.200  and  the  contractor  and  his  asso- 
ciates got  $7,200,  the  subcontractor  bearing  all  the  fines  and  deductions 
and  the  contractor  getting  his  $7,200  net.  Alter  the  route  was  carried 
up  to  831, 000  the  result  was — I  speak  with  a  little  caution  here;  I  am 
liable  to  make  some  slight  errors,  for  though  I  am  confident  I  am  almost 


90 

absolutely  correct  on  dates  and  figures,  there  is  in  connection  with  this 
route  a  peculiar  slidiug-scale  arrangement  at  one  point,  and,  therefore, 
I  am  more  likely  to  err  here  than  elsewhere — after  it  was  so  carried  up 
the  subcontractor  at  one  time  got  $10,666  and  the  contractor  got  in 
round  numbers  $20,000.  Mr.  Joseph,  the  subcontractor,  found  he  was 
running  behindhand  and  that  he  could  not  perform  his  service  for  the 
money  he  was  getting;  so  he  wrote  to  the  department  protesting  that  he 
could  not  do  the  service  for  the  price  he  was  receiving,  and  suggesting  that 
there  ought  to  be  some  change  in  that  respect.  Thereupon  Mr.  Stephen  W. 
Dorsey,  in  June,  1879,  writes  him  a  letter  telling  him  not  to  write  to  the 
department,  but  to  deal  only  with  him  (Dorsey).  Joseph  went  on  carry- 
ing the  mail  and  was  subjected  to  fines  which  substantially  ate  up  his 
entire  pay,  so  that  he  made  nothing  for  doing  the  service.  Then  he  was 
obliged  to  throw  up  the  service,and  these  defendants,  who  had  heen  getting 
$20,000  net  made  a  contract  with  one  Jaramillo.  Jaramillo  went  on 
for  a  considerable  time  performing  the  contract,  and  by  and  by  he  was 
so  eaten  up  by  fines  and  penalties  in  the  endeavor  to  carry  the  mail  in 
an  impossible  time  that  he  was  glad  to  get  nothing  for  carrying  the 
mail  and  to  pay  $500  to  the  defendants  for  being  let  off  from  the  con- 
tract. This  was  the  route  on  which  I  called  your  attentionto  the  fact 
that  the  postmasters  repeatedly  and  constantly  notified  Mr.  Brady  that 
it  was  impossible  to  carry  the.  mail  on  the  time  required  by  him.  When 
ho  sent  them  schedules  in  blank  on  which  they  were  to  fix  a  time  of 
departure  and  arrival  from  each  end  of  the  route  and  not  to  exceed  the 
time  named,  they  continually  returned  them  with  a  schedule  that  was 
more  than  twice  as  long  as  he  specified,  and  stating  in  express  terms 
that  they  could  not  fix  a  shorter  schedule,  and  that  it  was  impossible  to 
carry  the  mail  in  the  time  he  named.  Mr.  Brady  sent  back  schedule 
after  schedule,  insisting  upon  it  that  it  should  be  made  to  correspond 
with  his  wishes,  until  finally  one  of  the  leading  postmasters  says 
that  when  he  got  those  papers  he  used  to  throw  them  in  the  waste- 
basket.  This  is  the  route  on  which  the  contractor  got  $20,000,  and 
Joseph,  the  subcontractor,  $10,000,  and  when  Joseph  *wrote  to  Mr. 
Dorsey,  saying  there  ought  to  be  $12,000  allowed  for  carrying  the 
mail,  Mr.  Dorsey  wrote  him  back  that  he  thought  it  nonsense;  that 
it  was  perfectly  absurd ;  that  it  was  not  worth  any  such  sum. 
In  that  connection,  Mr.  Stephen  W.  Dorsey,  as  I  recollect,  wrote 
Mr.  Joseph  that  he  must  be  particularly  careful  or  he  would  be 
fined;  while  it  made  very  little  difference  if  Mr.  Joseph  was  to  get  so 
far  behind  that  the  fines  would  eat  up  all  his  compensation,  yet  he 
must  look  out  and  not  go  to  the  point  where  it  would  be  necessary  to 
fall  back  upon  the  contractor's  profit  and  apply  the  fines  upon  that. 
That  was  a  thing  that  could  not  be  endured  under  any  circumstances. 
On  that  route  the  affidavit  was  made  by  John  W.  Dorsey,  stating  the 
necessity  for  an  increase  of  men  and  animals,  and  saying  that  there 
would  be  170  per  cent,  more  men  and  animals  needed.  The  petition, 
however,  on  which  it  was  alleged  to  have  been  based  was  a  petition  for 
seven  trips  over  only  a  small  portion  of  the  route,  a  little  less  than 
half;  but  the  order  was  made  for  an  increase  on  the  whole  route. 
Moreover,  one  of  the  orders  made  on  that  route  was  on  a  petition 
which  represented  that  a  railroad  had  been  built  down  here  [indicating 
on  map],  and  that  if  they  could  have  a  mail  put  on  across  here  [indi- 
cating], and  then  have  that  portion  of  the  route  expedited,  that  they 
would  gain  a  great  deal  of  time.  Mr.  Brady  not  only  ordered 
that,  with  expedition  over  the  whole  route,  but  he  expressly  pro- 
vided that  the  order  should  take  effect  some  six  weeks  before 


91 

it  bore  date,  and,  therefore,  that  the  contractor  should  be  allowed 
pay  for  six  weeks  before  it  bore  date,  though  the  law  expressly 
sni'd  that  no  order  should  be  made  which  gave  pay  prior  to  the  day 
•of  its  making.  They  attempt  to  meet  that  by  saying  that  there  was  a 
telegraphic  order  which  preceded  the  final  order  about  three  weeks. 
But  allowing  the  telegraphic  order  as  the  correct  order  of  date  for  the 
expedition,  they  are  still,  nevertheless,  three  or  four  weeks  away  from 
the  time.  It  is  even  then  an  antedated  order,  in  absolute  disregard 
of  the  statute.  Then,  again,  the  order  was  an  order  extending  over  the 
whole  route,  though  the  petition  was  for  expedition  on  less  than  half  of 
the  route,  and  the  telegraphic  order  applied  to  only  half  of  the  route. 

Mr.  DAVIDGE.  What  route  are  you  speaking  of? 

Mr.  BLISS.  Eoute  38145,  from  Ojo  Caliente  to  Parrott  City.  It  was 
originally  from  Garland  to  Parrott  City,  and  was  cut  down  at  each  end 
so  that  it  became  from  Ojo  Caliente  to  Aniinas  City.  I  mentioned  the 
fact  that  one  of  these  contractors,  Jarainillo,  paid  $500  for  being  let  off 
from  his  contract,  besides  having  been  fined  all  of  his  pay  substantially. 
Of  those  fines  which  were  imposed  upon  him,  a  considerable  amount 
was  remitted  by  Mr.  Brady  after  Mr.  Jaramillo  had  paid  his  $500  to  be 
released,  and  that  amount  so  remitted,  these  contractors  placed  in  their 
pockets,  and  left  Mr.  Jaramillo  entirely  without  any  interest  in  it. 

The  route  from  Saguache  to  Lake  City  is  in  the  indictment,  but  I 
shall  pass  over  it  very  briefly,  because  it  need  not  be  concealed  from 
you,  gentlemen,  that  a  large  portion,  if  not  all  of  the  money,  that  was 
derived  from  that  route,  passed  into  the  pocket  of  a  person  not  a  defend- 
ant in  this  case.  Therefore,  so  far  as  the  actual  fraud  upon  the  United 
States  is  concerned,  of  which  there  was  an  abundance  upon  that  route, 
and  in  the  inception  of  which  these  defendants  were  engaged,  inasmuch 
as  the  money  did  not  go  into  their  pockets,  and  inasmuch  as  there  are 
so  much  stronger  cases,  I  do  not  care  to  take  your  time,  either  now,  or 
by  the  evidence  to  any  great  extent  upon  this  route.  It  was  ninety-five 
miles  long,  was  let  for  thirty-six  hours'  time,  and  three  times  a  week; 
Miner  being  the  contractor  at  $3,426.  There  was,  as  I  have  stated,  a 
very  considerable  fraud  upon  that  route,  but  it  is  not  such  that  I  care 
to  take  any  great  amount  of  time  with  it.  There  is  one  feature  in  con- 
nection with  it,  and  another  route  to  which  I  will  call  your  attention. 
It  is  route  38150.  This  route  started  from  Saguache,  and  ran  through 
Barnum  to  Lake  City.  There  was  another  route  starting  from  Garland 
and  coming  up  to  Lake  City,  and  at  that  point  going  on  to  Barnum,  and 
overlapping  from  Barnum  to  Lake  City,  some  twenty-odd  miles  of  this 
other  route.  At  Barnum  it  turned  west  and  went  out  to  Los  Pinos,  a  dis- 
tance of  about  fifty  miles.  For  this  distance  over  the  route  the  service 
was  identical.  It  was  performed  by  the  same  .parties,  and  for  a  consid- 
erable period  Mr.  Brady  paid  the  same  parties  twice  for  doing  the  single 
service.  That  money  was  not  got  back  until  after  Mr.  Brady  had  gone 
out  of  office,  and  the  administration  that  succeeded  him  came  into  office. 
Then  they  compelled  the  subcontractor  who  had  received  that  double 
pay  to  refund.  [Illustrating  on  map.]  This  other  route  came  up  to  Lake 
City  and  went  on  originally  across  the  mountain  to  Onray.  It  was  a 
very  difficult  route  across  the  mountains,  and  certain  portions  of  the 
year  was  undoubtedly  practically  impassable.  It  was  almost  across  the 
back-bone  of  the  continent,  the  mountains  being  some  twelve  or  thir- 
teen thousand  feet  high.  Therefore,  af  i  er  a  time,  that  route  which  went 
across  the  mountain  was  changed  so  that  it  went  over  the  other  route, 
up  to  Barnum,  making  practically  three  routes  for  that  distance;  Lake 
City  to  Barnum,  and  then  up  to  Los  Pinos,  making  two  routes  for  that 


92 

distance;  ami  then  down  to  Ouray,  going  on  three  sides  of  a  square, 
as  shorter  in  time  and  better  than  the  one  side,  because  the  one  side  was 
directly  across  the  mountain.  On  that  change  we  make  no  criticism  ; 
but  what  I  desire  to  call  .your  attention  to  is  this :  that  not  only  was 
there  the  double  service  along  that  portion  of  the  route  from  Barnum 
to  Lake  City  and  the  double  payment,  but  there  was  also  the  double 
payment  from  Barnum  to  Los  Pinos,  while  there  was  only  a  single 
service,  the  mail  being  carried  by  the  same  man  on  the  same  wagon  and 
with  the  same  horses.  When  this  change  was  made  the  postmasters 
assumed,  of  course,  that  there  was  no  intention  to  have  double  pay,  and 
they  ceased  to  report  one  of  these  routes  on  their  quarterly  reports  as 
existing.  They  were  called  to  account  after  a  time  by  the  Second 
Assistant  Postmaster-GeneraPs  Office  to  know  why  they  did  not  report 
both,  and  thereupon  one  of  the  postmasters,  a  very  intelligent  gentle- 
man, Dr.  MacDouald,  sat  down  and  wrote  Mr.  Brady  a  long  account  of 
the  whole  thing,  showing  how  the  service  was  identical,  how  he  con- 
sidered it  was  not  possible  that  there  could  be  any  necessity  for  report- 
ing both  routes,  and  how  there  could  not  be  any  propriety  in  paying 
for  both.  He  was  substantially  told  to  mind  his  own  business.  The 
service  went  on,  the  Government  paying  for  both  of  those  routes  for 
nearly  two  years  after  the  remonstrance  of  Dr.  MacDonald.  and  then,  for 
some  reason,  as  to  which  there  is  apparently  no  evidence,  an  order  was 
made  cutting  off  one  of  the  routes,  so  that  the  contractor  should  get 
pay  only  upon  one.  All  we  can  say  as  to  the  origin  of  that  order  is,  as 
I  recollect,  that  it  was  made  about  the  time  that  public  attention  began 
to  be  directed  to  star-route  matters,  and  not  very  far  from  the  time 
when  Mr.  Brady  had  asked  for  an  increase  of  appropriation,  and  there 
had  been  a  Congressional  investigation.  It  was,  I  think,  somewhat 
later  than  that.  It  was  not  cut  off  until  the  summer  of  1880,  and  the 
investigation  took  place  in  the  preceding  winter. 

Mr.  WILSON.  The  money  was  all  received  by  Sanderson  and  re- 
couped. 

Mr.  BLISS.  As  to  who  received  the  money,  and  whether  the  success- 
ors of  Mr.  Brady  recouped  it,  is  entirely  unimportant  in  connection 
with  this  case.  However,  the  facts  show  the  amount  of  service  that 
Mr.  Brady  put  on  and  persisted  in,  in  spite  of  the  remonstrance  of  those 
whom  he  ought  to  have  relied  upon,  and  continued  for  months  and 
years  of  time. 

The  route  from  Silverton  to  Parrott  City,  No.  38155,  was  let  as  sixty- 
nine  miles  long,  and  for  service  twice  a  week.  The  time  was  thirty-six 
hours  and  the  amount  paid  $1,488.  There  was  originally  a  subcontract 
placed  on  file  in  October,  1878,  by  which  John  W.  Dorsey,  who  was  the 
contractor,  and  received  $1,488  from  the  Government,  was  to  pay  to 
the  subcontractor  $2,280,  about  $800  more  than  he  got.  That  subcon- 
tract was  made  upon  a  printed  blank,  with  the  heading  of  Miner,  Peck 
&  Co.  It  was  made  by  the  firm  of  Miner,  Peck  &  Co.,  or  J.  W.  Dorsey 
&  Co.,  I  have  forgotten  which.  On  the  1st  of  October,  1879,  Mr. 
Stephen  W.  Dorsey  became  the  subcontractor  on  that  route  at  the  full 
amount.  I  have  already  mentioned  to  you  that  when  any  of  these 
parties  to  the  conspiracy  became  subcontractors  they  were  always  sub- 
contractors at  the  full  amount,  so  as  to  leave  the  contractors  with  no 
interest  on  the  record.  On  the  21st  of  January,  1880,  Mr.  Dorsey's 
subcontract  was  withdrawn,  and  a  subcontract  of  a  Mr.  Steineger 
was  put  on  record  for  $9,400.  Before  Mr.  Steineger  became  a 
contractor  the  amount  which  the  Government  was  to  pay  had  been 
run  up  from  $1,458  a  year  to  $16,512.28  a  year.  There  was  upon 


93 

this  route  also  a  transaction  of  this  kind,  which  took  place  as  early  as 
February,  1879.  Ten  miles  were  added  to  the  route,  which  started  from 
Silverton'  and  passed  down  to  Parrott  City.  At  about  this  poiut 
[indicating  on  map],  there  was  a  trail  that  ran  across  over  here  [indi- 
cating], cutting  off  an  angle.  It  was  an  old  trail  not  ordinarily  trav- 
eled, and  in  point  of  fact  the  mail  was  always  carried  by  way  of  Ani- 
mas  City,  which  was  a  city  of  considerable  size,  and  has  now  become 
one  of  the  largest  towns  in  Southern  Colorado — Durango.  Animas 
City  is  on  one  side  of  the  river  and  Durango  is  on  the  other.  Mr. 
Brady  had  sent  circular  after  circular,  calling  upon  the  postmasters  to 
give  him  the  distances  between  the  post-offices.  Those  circulars  had 
been  returned  to  him,  each  one  of  them  specifying  that  Animas  City 
was  on  the  route,  and  giving  the  distance.  The  mail  had  always  gone 
that  way.  There  had  always  been  a  postmaster  at  Animas  City,  and 
he  had  always  opened  the  mail  and  taken  out  letters  to  Animas  City. 
Yet,  on  the  16th  of  February,  1879,  ten  miles  were  added  for  going  to 
Auimas  City  under  the  pretense  that  it  added  that  distance  because 
there  was  a  possible  trail  over  which  not  only  had  there  never  been  any 
mail  carried,  but  which  Mr.  Brady's  own  distance  circular,  sent  him  by 
his  own  postmasters,  showed  him  was  never  traveled.  Mr.  Brady  began 
by  adding  for  this  ten  miles  $215.65,  and  when  it  came  to  be  multi- 
plied by  the  expedition  which  subsequently  came,  the  result  was, 
that  the  fictitious  addition  added  $2,090  to  the  amount  which  Mr. 
Brady  directed  to  be  taken  from  the  Treasury.  On  the  1st  of  July,  1879, 
five  trips  were  added,  and  the  time  was  reduced  from  thirty-seven  hours 
to  fifteen  hours.  The  allowances  for  this  addition  of  trips  and  reduc- 
tion of  speed  were  fourteen  thousand  eight  hundred  and  odd  dollars, 
carrying  the  total  up  to  $16,512.28.  There  were  changes  on  that  route 
at  different  times  by  which  the  Government  finally  paid  out  the  reduced 
sum  of  $14,870.  At  the  time  when  the  Government  was  paying  $16,500 
on  this  route  the  contractor  got  for  doing  nothing  $11,500,  and  the  sub- 
contractor got  for  carrying  the  mail  $5,400  and  paid  all  the  fines  and 
deductions.  When  the  amount  was  reduced  a  little  the  subcontractor 
did  better.  He  then  got  $9,400  and  the  contractor  got  only  $7,100.  As 
for  the  expedition  for  which  this  large  sum  of  $10,500  was  paid  so  far 
as  getting  the  mail  to  a  point  to  go  beyond  the  terminal  station  at 
either  end  is  concerned,  it  gained  no  time.  The  expedition  from  thirty- 
five  hours  to  fifteen  hours  did  gain  time  for  the  little  way  stations ;  but 
as  to  the  forwarding  of  the  mail  from  Auimas  City,  which  was  on  the 
railroad  this  way,  or  Silverton,  at  the  other  end,  nothing  was  gained 
because  the  mail  laid  over  night  at  both  places.  The  result  was, 
gentlemen,  that  while  the  original  time  was  thirty-six  hours  and  the 
expedited  time  was  fifteen  hours,  after  the  expedition  took  place,  a 
letter  required  thirty  hours  to  go  over  the  entire  route.  The  ex- 
pedited time  was  lost  by  the  stoppage  and  failure  at  Duraugo 
and  Silverton.  On  the  llth  of  November,  1880,  all  the  postmasters 
united  in  recommending  that  the  time  be  made  at  least  twenty-four 
hours  and  in  this  all  the  citizens  of  Silverton  joined.  Silvertou  was 
the  chief  place  upon  the  route  and  one  of  the  liveliest  towns  in  Colo- 
rado, as  I  am  informed.  That  petition  was  transmitted  by  one  of  the 
Senators  from  Colorado,  with  a  strong  letter  recommending  that  it  be 
granted.  Though  you  will  hear,  in  the  history  of  this  case,  that  a  Sena- 
tor was  apparently  all-powerful  whenever  there  was  an  increase  to  be 
made  and  money  to  be  taken  from  the  Treasury,  and  though  you  will 
find  at  least  one  order,  if  not  two,  taking  an  amount  of  money  out  of 
the  Treasury,  made  avowedly  in  part  because  it  was  requested  by  this 


94 

very  Senator,  yet  when  that  Senator,  acting  upon  the  petition  of  all  the 
leading  people  in  the  chief  place  upon  this  route,  recommended  that  the 
increased  speed  be  dispensed  with,  his  recommendation  amounted  to 
nothing,  and  Mr.  Brady  went  out  of  office  leaving  this  increased  speed 
and  this  increased  compensation  for  the  benefit,  not  of  the  people  of  the 
locality,  but  for  the  benefit  of  these  contractors. 

Mr.  WILSON.  Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  tell  the  jury  what  case  that 
was?  s 

Mr.  BLISS.  That  is  Silverton  to  Parrott  City. 

Mr.  WILSON.  In  this  matter  which  you  have  just  spoken  about,  be 
kind  enough  to  tell  the  jury  what  case  you  refer  to. 

Mr.  BLISS.  It  is  on  the  Silverton  and  Parrott  City  route,  as  I  under- 
stand it.  That  is  my  recollection  of  it.  If  I  am  incorrect  about  that,  I 
will  be  glad  to  be  corrected.  That  route  is  No.  38156.  The  Senator  is 
Senator  Hill,  of  Colorado.  I  do  not  think  I  am  wrong  as  to  the  route, 
but  at  any  rate,  if  I  am  wrong  as  to  the  route,  I  simply  say  that  as  to 
one  of  the  routes  in  Colorado  that  transaction  occurred.  I  do  not  think 
I  am  wrong  as  to  the  route. 

I  may  say  to  you,  perhaps  this  may  be  a  convenient  occasion  to  say, 
that  the  post-office  routes  are  all  numbered  by  a  given  thousand.  For 
instance,  you  will  find  all  routes  beginning  with  38000  were  in  the  State 
of  Colorado,  each  State  having  a  thousand  appropriated  to  it  in  that 
way,  Oregon's  being,  I  think,  44000,  and  California's  46000. 

Now,  on  the  route  38140,  which  is  from  Trinidad  to  Madison,  in  South- 
ern Colorado,  Trinidad  is  here  [illustrating  on  map].  The  route  as 
originally  run  was  from  Trinidad  over  here  to  Barela,  from  Barela  to  a 
place  called  Grinnell,  and  then  down  to  Madison,  which  is  on  a  river  in 
New  Mexico — the  Cimarron .  That  route  was  let  as  forty-five  miles  long ; 
one  trip  was  to  be  made  a  week;  John  E.  Miner  was  the  contractor,  at 
thirteen  hours.  Before  the  service  was  commenced,  instead  of  being 
allowed  to  run  across  from  there  to  there  [indicating  on  map],  the  route 
was  bent  around  so  as  to  go  out  here  to  Eaton,  and  then  come  around 
there.  The  result  was  that,  in  consequence  of  that  addition,  the 
original  thirteen  hours  of  time  was  extended  to  nineteen  and  three- 
quarter  hours,  I  think.  Now,  Eaton  was  put  on  there  under  these 
circumstances.  Here  is  a  river  valley  going  down  there  [indicating 
on  map].  There  was  mail  service  out  here  to  a  place  called  Pulaski, 
and  I  think  also  to  Greenwood.  At  any  rate  Eaton  was  situated  in 
that  same  valley,  and  was  within  eight  or  ten  miles  of  mail  service. 
The  people  petitioned  to  have  mail  service  from  this  direction  [indi- 
cating on  map],  coming  down  to  Eaton  as  meeting  all  their  convenience, 
and  that  also,  if  I  remember,  was  recommended  by  a  United  States 
Senator.  Instead  of  getting  that  service,  which  could  have  been  put 
on  at  the  rate  of  two  or  three  hundred  dollars  a  year,  this  route  here 
was  bent  around.  There  was  added  to  it  some  23  miles  of  distance  5  the 
time  was  extended  6  hours,  so  as  to  carry  it  up  from  13  hours  to  19  J 
hours.  Instead  of  two  or  three  hundred  dollars,  which  could  have  been 
paid  for  that,  you  will  see  directly  how  the  Government  was  made  to 
sutler  by  this  twisting  around,  not  in  accordance  with  the  petition  pre- 
sented and  not  in  accordance  with  the  convenience  of  the  people. 

Before  I  follow  up  the  money  matter,  going  a  little  into  the  history  of 
the  route,  we  find  this  condition  of  things:  Mr.  Miner  was  the  original 
contractor;  he  wants  all  letters  sent  to  lock-box  706;  the  original  address 
was  lock-box  714;  when  sent  to  lock-box  714  they  were  to  be  addressed 
to  the  care  of  M.  C.  Eerdell.  On  the  7th  of  December,  1880,  a  subcon- 
tract of  S.  W.  Dorsey's,  which  had  been  tiled  on  the  llth  of  November, 


95 

1879,  and  was  dated  on  the  1st  of  April,  1879,  was  withdrawn.  That 
was  on  the  7th  of  December,  1880,  though  on  the  preceding  3d  of  April 
Rerdell  had  directed  that  all  communications  should  be  sent  to  him. 
On  the  4th  of  June,  1881,  Mr.  Rerdell  writes  to  one  of  the  subcon- 
tractors out  there  referring1  to  the  delays  and  difficulties  "we  are 
under  in  consequence  of  a  change  in  the  administration,"  and  over- 
hauling the  post-office  officials.  Mr.  Brady  had  gone  out  of  office  a 
month  previously.  However,  Mr.  Rerdell  had  good  trust.  He 
assured  him  that  uthis  investigation  now  being  made  by  the  Post- 
Office  Department  will  come  to  nothing;  it  is  simply  a  repetition 
of  that  which  was  made  by  Congress  a  year  ago."  I  think,  gentle- 
men, I  shall  not  be  drawing  too  largely  upon  you  when  1  ask  you  to 
draw  the  inference  at  least  that  Mr.  Rerdell  has  since  changed  his 
mind  about  this  investigation.  He  thinks  it  a  little  different  from  the 
investigation  that  Congress  was  making  "a  year  ago."  Mr.  Rerdellr 
however,  at  that  time  felt  so  confident  that  when  by  and  by  the  new 
administration  cut  off  some  portion  of  the  expedition  he  notified  the 
subcontractor  that  he  must  continue  to  carry  the  mail  on  the  old  rate  of 
speed,  for  "we  are  going  to  contest  in  the  courts  the  legality  of  their 
expedition."  They  did  not  voluntarily  go  to  work  to  make  that  contest 
of  legality,  but  we  are  in  a  certain  form  giving  them  that  opportunity. 
This  distance  that  was  added  for  Raton  that  I  have  spoken  of  was  put 
in  as  if  28  miles  had  been  added.  We  shall  show  you  in  detail 
that  in  fact  it  added  only  23  miles;  that  the  evidence  was  in  the 
department  distinctly  to  show  that  it  added  only  23.  But  they  re- 
cited that  it  added  28  miles  and  paid  on  the  basis  of  an  addition  of 
28  miles;  and  moreover  they  paid  for  carrying  that  mail  by  Raton 
from  the  1st  of  July,  1878,  though  in  point  of  fact  no  mail  was  ever 
carried  over  that  route  until  the-  17th  of  January,  1879.  Six  months 
and  seventeen  days  did  they  pay  for  carrying  the  mail  over  that 
route,  so  wrenched  around  as  to  add  28  miles  to  the  distance,  before 
any  mail  was  carried  there.  But  finally  they  had  got  it  to  suit  them- 
selves, and  on  the  1st  of  May,  1879,  there  were  added  two  trips,  and 
then  Mr.  Brady  put  the  thing  back  to  where  it  was  before  he  wrenched 
it  around  and  added  on  Raton.  The  original  schedule  time  having  been 
thirteen  hoars,  which,  by  the  addition  of  Raton,  he  extended  to  nine- 
teen hours,  he  now,  on  the  first  of  May,  1879,  reduced  the  speed  to 
twelve  hours,  so  that  over  that  route  the  mail  matter  was  carried  in 
twelve  hours  instead  of  thirteen  hours  that  the  original  schedule  re- 
quired. But  under  the  original  schedule  the  Government  was  to  pay 
$338.  Under  the  schedule  with  the  decreased  time  the  Government 
was  made  by  Mr.  Brady  to  pay  $4,290.30  for  carrying  the  mail  over 
the  same  route.  He  could  have  supplied  Raton  at  not  exceeding  $300. 
He  chose  to  supply  it  in  this  way,  and  the  result  was  to  get  that  route 
to  the  same  time  before  he  put  Raton  on  with  the  introduction  of  the  two 
extra  trips,  and  he  carried  the  expense  to  the  Government  up  from  $338 
to  $4,290.30.  Of  that  amount  of  $4,290.30  the  contractor  who  was  car- 
rying the  mail  received  $1,550,  and  Dorsey  &  Company,  for  not  doing 
anything,  received  $2,402.30.  The  expedition- was  obtained  upon  the 
affidavit  of  John  W.  Dorsey,  sworn  to  on  the  26th  of  April,  1879.  The 
order  was  made  five  days  later,  on  the  1st  of  May.  Dorsey  swore 
that  to  carry  the  mail  in  nineteen  and  three  fourth  hours  three  times  a 
week  took  one  man  and  four  animals,  and  to  carry  it  in  twelve  hours 
would  take  three  men  and  eleven  animals.  In  point  of  fact  the  man 
who  carried  the  mail  says  that  it  took,  to  carry  it  in  twelve  hoars,  three 
trips  a  week  on  the  expedited  schedule,  two  men  and  six  horses,  and  three 


96 

of  those  were  horses  that  he  kept  in  reserve  in  case  those  in  actual  use 
broke  down.  So,  two  men  and  six  horses  were  actually  used,  making  a 
factor  of  eight,  while  John  W.  Dorsey  swore  that  three  men  and  eleven 
horses  were  needed,  making  a  factor  of  fourteen,  and  I  need  not  remind 
you  how  large  a  difference  that  would  make  in  the  amount  taken  from 
the  Treasury  under  the  rule  of  expedition  applied  to  it. 

The  route  from  Pueblo  to  Eosita,  No.  38134,  was  advertised  as  forty- 
nine  miles  long.  It  was  let  to  John  E.  Miner  at  $388.  The  time  was  fifteen 
hours,  and  there  was  to  be  one  trip  a  week.  The  subcontractor  was  first 
to  pay  $700,  while  getting  from  the  Government  only  $388  I  think.  In 
July,  1879,  five  trips  were  added,  and  for  that  $2,328  was  added.  Then  the 
time  was  reduced  to  ten  hours  from  fifteen,  and  $5,432  was  added.  So 
that  a  route  commencing  at  $388  was  carried  up  to  $8,148.  The  annual 
income  of  all  the  offices  on  that  route  was  $1,464.  On  the  22d  of  October, 
1879,  there  was  filed  the  subcontract  of  one  Hanson,  by  which  he  got  $3,100. 
Mind  you,  that  was  on  file,  and  that  left  to  the  contractor  net  $o,048 
for  doing  nothing.  But  the  subcontractor  Hanson  had  so  good  a  thing 
of  it  in  carrying  the  mail  at  $3,100  and  paying  all  fines  and  deductions 
that  he  turned  around  and  found  a  responsible  contractor  who  carried 
the  mail  for  him  for  $2,600.  So  that  while  the  Government  was  paying 
$8,148,  under  Brady's  orders  for  carrying  the  mail,  the  man  who  was 
actually  doing  it  was  getting  only  $2,600. 

Now  that  route  from  Pueblo  to  Eosita  starts  from  Pueblo  here 
[indicating  on  map]  and  comes  down  here  to  Eosita ;  the  only  inter- 
mediate post-office  was  at  Greenwood  here  [indicating].  Here  was  a 
railroad  running  out  here  [indicating].  Greenwood  gets  its  principal 
mail  quicker  by  getting  it  from  another  mail  route  here,  that  being- 
rail  and  this  a  stage  route  [indicating  on  map].  The  result  was  that 
practically  that  route  was  only  intended  to  supply  Eosita  and  places 
beyond  it.  And  yet  the  mail  came  to  Eosita  by  coming  out  here  down 
this  way,  that  being  all  rail,  quicker  than  it  could  from  Pueblo.  So 
that,  in  point  of  fact,  there  was  really  no  ground  for  the  existence  of  this 
route  at  all  [indicating].  The  intermediate  station  got  its  mail  quite 
as  well  from  Florence,  running  out  by  the  railroad  quicker  than  down 
there,  and  substantially  no  mail  ever  came  to  Eosita  over  that  route. 
All  the  mail  matter  that  came  from  east  of  Eosita  was  put  into  the  mail 
bags  on  the  cars  and  passed  out  here  and  came  down  here  [indicating 
on  map].  It  was  not  transferred  at  Pueblo  at  all.  The  only  mail  that 
came  from  Pueblo  to  Eosita  was  practically  such  local  matter  as  got 
into  the  mail  at  a  time  after  the  mail  going  this  way  [indicating]  had 
closed  and  before  another  mail  going  the  same  way  was  about  to  start. 
There  were  a  few  hours  in  the  day  when  mail  matter  going  to  Eosita 
was  put  into  the  bag  to  go  over  this  route.  That  was  all  there  was  on 
that  route  which  was  run  up  to  $8,148.  There  was  a  certain  time  when 
for  a  little  while  there  was  a  post-office  called  Wetmore  on  the  route,  but 
it  was  a  trivial  thing,  and,  as  I  recollect,  it  was  discontinued.  The  pro- 
ductiveness on  that  route,  leaving  out  Pueblo,  was  something  less  than 
a  hundred  dollars  a  year. 

As  to  that  route,  Mr.  Brady  had  been  notified  as  early  as  the  30th  of 
August,  1878,  long  before  he  made  any  of  his  orders,  by  one  of  the  post- 
masters, that  tri- weekly  service  was  not  needed.  In  the  face  of  that 
he  went  on  and  ordered  six  times  a  week's  service.  Again,  on  the  8th 
of  May,  1880,  he  was  notified  by  the  postmasters  that  the  service  was 
not  needed.  That  notice  was  given  after  he  had  made  his  order  in- 
creasing it,  but  he  did  not  pay  any  attention  to  the  notice  of  the  post- 
masters. He  left  that  service,  which  the  postmasters  certified  to  him 


97 

was  not  needed,  in  force  until  his  successors  came  into  office,  when  one 
of  their  first  acts  was  to  cut  it  off. 

The  affidavit  for  increase  on  that  route  was  made  by  John  W.  Dorsey, 
who  had  no  honest  connection  with  the  route — no  connection  other  than 
being  a  co-conspirator  with  the  others.  John  E.  Miner  was  the  con- 
tractor. Eli  Hanson  was  the  subcontractor  by  a  contract  on  file.  Yet 
Brady  took  the  affidavit  of  John  W.  Dorsey,  swearing  that  he  was  the 
subcontractor.  Dorsey  swore  that  to  carry  the  mail  7  times  a  week  on 
a  15-hour  schedule  took  2  men  and  6  animals,  making  8,  and  on  a  10- 
hour  schedule  6  men  and  18  animals,  making  24.  The  man  who  car- 
ried the  mails  says  he  never  ran  7  times  a  week  on  15  hours.  His  esti- 
mate is  that  for  7  times  a  week  and  15  hours  it  would  take  7  men  and 
12  animals,  though  Dorsey,  when  his  object  was  to  make  it  as  little  as 
possible,  swore  that  it  would  take  only  2  men  and  6  animals,  making 
an  aggregate  of  8  against  what  the  contractor  says  would  have  been  19. 
Then  the  carrier  says  the  amount  as  likely  to  be  needed  for  the  increased 
speed  was  probably  about  correctly  stated  by  Mr.  Dorsey.  It  is  a  little 
difficult  on  that  route  to  get  at  those  figures  precisely,  owing  to  the  cir- 
cumstance that  at  one  time  it  became  an  important  passenger  route. 
The  mail  was  carried  upon  four-horse  coaches,  and  it  is  impossible, 
therefore,  to  say  with  any  accuracy  how  many  men  and  horses  were 
needed  to  carry  the  mail  when  they  were  also  carrying  a  large  number 
of  passengers  and  a  large  quantity  of  express  matter.  Therefore,  as  to 
the  discrepancy  between  the  affidavit  and  the  fact,  it  is  a  little  less  cer- 
tain, perhaps,  than  as  to  some  of  the  others  as  to  which  I  called  your 
attention,  or  shall  call  your  attention. 

Route  40113,  from  Tres  Alamos  by  way  of  Clifton,  in  Arizona, 
was  let  to  John  W.  Dorsey  as  197  miles  long,  the  trips  to  be  made 
once  a  week.  Eighty-four  hours  were  allowed  for  doing  it,  being  a 
little  over  two  miles  an  hour.  The  contract  price  was  $1,568.  You 
will  find  that  as  we  go  along  through  large  portions  of  this  correspond- 
ence in  connection  with  these  routes,  KerdelPs  hand  and  Kerdell's  brain 
were  being  used,  and  being  used  in  a  subordinate  capacity,  while  he 
was  representing  the  other  men,  Dorsey  and  others,  who  were  putting 
in  their  pockets  the  profits  of  the  transaction  and  giving  to  Berdell  a 
portion  of  them  which  we  are  unable  to  define.  On  the  10th  of  May, 
1879,  Kerdell,  writing  in  the  name  of  John  W.  Dorsey,  transmitted  pe- 
titions to  the  West  to  have  them  circulated  for  increase  of  trips  and 
speed,  and  in  less  than  a  month  after,  on  the  2d  of  June,  1879,  two  trips 
were  added  and  $3,136  was  allowed  for  them,  and  the  time  was  reduced 
from  eighty- four  hours  to  forty  hours,  and  an  allowance  made  for  that 
of  $9,408,  thereby  carrying  up  the  original  pay  of  $1,568  to  $14,112. 

Mr.  Stephen  W.  Dorsey's  subcontract  was  filed  on  that  route  in  Oc- 
tober, 1879,  and  withdrawn  in  January,  1881.  On  the  2d  of  February, 
1881,  by  one  of  the  last  orders,  which  fortunately  for  The  Government 
Mr.  Brady  was  able  to  make,  in  about  the  last  month  of  his  official 
time,  he  added  four  trips  and  allowed  therefor  $15,950.62.  So  that  the 
aggregate  expense  of  that  route  which  originally  cost  $1,568  was  car- 
ried up  to  $27,913.59,  and  that  too  after  owing  to  a  striking  off  of  a 
portion  of  the  route  there  had  been  a  deduction  of  $2,149.  What  cost 
originally  $1,568,  as  awarded  by  public,  open  bidding  was,  by  Mr. 
Brady's  orders,  under  the  pretense  of  expedition  and  increase  out  in 
that  desert  region  in  Arizona,  the  character  of  which  we  shall  show 
you  by  witnesses  from  the  spot,  carried  up  to  nearly  $28,000  a  year. 

Turning  for  the  moment  to  Oregon,  let  us  take  route  44140,  which  is 
the. route  from  Eugene  City  to  Bridge  Creek.  That  was  let  as  207 


98 

miles  long  on  a  schedule  of  130  hours  once  a  week.  John  M.  Peck  was 
the  contractor  at  $2,468.  He  first  made  a  subcontract  with  a  man 
named  Wycoif,  by  which  he  was  to  pay  him  $2,700  for  that  service  for 
which  he,  Peck,  was  getting  from  The  Government  only  $2,468.  But 
that  subcontract  looked  to  the  idea  of  an  increase  first  of  three  tripsr 
and  then  to  six  or  seven  trips,  and  provided  for  all  the  contingencies  as 
to  how  much  should  be  allowed  with  reference  to  each  possible  increase. 
Kerdell  and  box  706  turned  up  as  the  proper  address  for  the  papers 
connected  with  that  contract ;  and  in  that  route  we  shall  be  able  to 
show  you,  I  think,  that  Mr.  Stephen  W.  Dorsey  took  great  interest;  that 
he  sent  petitions  there  to  be  prepared;  that  he  sent  agents  there  to 
work  up  public  opinion;  and  that  he  was  generally  engaged  in  the  be- 
nevolent business  of  taking  money  out  of  the  Treasury. 

As  early  as  the  26th  of  June,  1879,  less  than  a  year  after  the  contract 
term  commenced,  and  a  good  deal  less  than  a  year  after  service  was 
commenced,  as  I  recollect  it,  two  trips  were  added,  and  the  time  was 
reduced  from  121  hours  to  50  hours,  the  result  of  which  was,  that  a 
route  which  was  let  at  $2,468  was  run  up  to  $21,460.89.  But  while, 
under  the  original  contracts,  Mr.  Peck  was  paying  $232  more  than  he 
got,  he  was  now  getting,  under  the  expedited  contract,  $14,060.89  more 
than  he  paid  out  himself,  receiving  that  sum  net,  and  giving  to  the 
subcontractor  $7,400  for  performing  the  service,  and  the  subcontractor 
bearing  the  fines  and  penalties.  After  that  came  a  series  of  petitions 
from  that  route,  and,  as  to  those  petitions,  there  is  this  fact,  to  which  I 
desire  to  call  your  attention.  I  mentioned  to  you  that  when  Kerdell 
came  to  Mr.  MacYeagh  and  to  Mr.  James,  and,  under  the  effect  of  fear 
or  a  quickened  conscience,  undertook  to  tell  the  whole  story,  so  far  as 
he  was  concerned,  and  endeavored  to  procure  protection  for  himself  and 
his  patron,  Mr.  Stephen  W.  Dorsey,  he  produced  a  letter-book  containing 
the  press  copies  of  letters,  some  of  which  were  written  by  him,  and 
some  of  which  purported  to  be  written  by,  and  were  stated  by  him 
to  be  written  by,  Stephen  W.  Dorsey.  Those  letters,  gentlemen,  re- 
lated to  this  route.  They  were  letters  written  to  an  old  acquaint- 
ance in  Arkansas,  who  had  moved  to  Oregon,  and  were  letters  em- 
ploying' him  at  a  salary  to  go  to  work  to  get  up  petitions,  and  the 
forms  of  petitions  were  inclosed  to  him,  and  directions  given  to  him  as 
to  everything  that  he  was  to  do  in  the  way  of  working  up  public  opinion. 
Mr.  Dorsey *s  relations  to  this  gentleman  were  such  that  he  addressed 
him  as  "My  Dear  Frank,"  and  he  went  on  and  did  his  work  faithfully 
He  is  directed  to  get  up  letters.  He  is  directed  to  see  that  there  are  a 
proper  number  of  Democrats :  "  Write  to  the  Democratic  Senators  " ;  and 
he  is  to  see  to  getting  articles  in  the  newspapers,  and,  generally,  he  is 
to  work  this  thing  up  ingeniously  and  pervasively;  and  he  did  it. 
I  think  Dorsey  all  this  time  was  in  the  United  States  Senate ;  that  it 
was  not  after  Dorsey  went  out  of  the  Senate.  Wilcox  transmitted 
these  letters,  so  far  as  he  got  them,  to  Mr.  Dorsey,  and  Mr.  Dorsey 
sent  them  to  the  Postmaster-General,  never  pretending  in  any  man- 
ner that  he  had  any  possible  relations  to  anybody  connected  with  these 
routes ;  but  he,  as  a  public  official  in  the  United  States  Senate,  had 
received  these  letters  from  people  out  there,  who,  under  the  stress 
of  their  own  needs  and  the  necessity  of  having  more  mail  service,  had, 
among  others,  written  to  him,  perhaps,  as  chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Post-Offices,  and  he  transmitted  them  to  the  Second  Assistant  Post- 
master-General, and  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General  continued 
the  benevolence  by  promptly  proceeding  to  make  orders  upon  them. 
The  total  revenue  of  the  route,  the  expense  of  which  was  carried  up  to 


99 

$21,460.89,  was  $639.82.  That  route  is  in  Oregon  and  runs  east  and 
west  through  an  unsettled  country  for  forty  miles.  It  is  literally  true 
that  there  is  not  and  never  has  been  a  soul  residing  there.  For  seventy 
miles  it  is  literally  true  there  was  not  even  a  road.  One  village  through 
which  it  passes  has  six  houses,  another  two,  another  fourteen,  and  an- 
other four.  It  so  happens  that  on  one  day  we  can  show  you  the  amount 
of  mail  matter  that  passed  over  that  route.  It  consisted  of  one  letter, 
one  postal  card,  and  one  mail  bill,  which  was  a  government  record  show- 
ing what  was  in  the  bag.  That  route  was  not  a  through  route.  It  was 
a  local  route,  and  that  was  the  way  in  which  Mr.  Brady  treated  it  and 
the  way  in  which  he  had  "due  regard  to  productiveness." 

Koute  44160,  also  in  Oregon,  from  Canyon  City  to  Fort  McDermott, 
runs  north  and  south.  I  am  not  sure  whether  it  connects  with  the  Union 
Pacific  Railroad  or  not,  but  I  think  so.  That  was  let  as  243  miles  long. 
The  time  allowed  was  130  hours.  Peck  was  the  contractor  at  $2,888. 
The  service  was  to  have  commenced  on  that  route  on  the  1st  of  July, 
1878.  In  point  of  fact  it  did  not  commence  until  long  after  that  time. 
The  postmaster  at  the  only  intermediate  post-office,  Camp  Harney, 
reported  that  the  mail  commenced  first  on  the  9th  of  December, 
1878.  The  postmaster  at  Fort  McDermott  reports  that  it  began  on  the 
4th  of  January.  On  the  23d  of  December,  twelve  days  before  the  serv- 
ice had  actually  begun — bearing  in  mind  the  distance  of  Oregon  from 
here — before  any  knowledge  of  that  service  on  any  portion  of  the  route 
could  have  been  received  here,  Mr.  Brady  made  an  order  for  the  addi- 
tion of  two  trips,  and  reduced  the  time  from  130  hours  to  96  hours, 
when  there  never  had  been  a  mail  over  the  route,  and  allowed  on  that 
route,  where  the  original  pay  was  $2,888,  from,  the  Treasury  of  the  Gov- 
ernment $21,500.  He  did  this  before  a  pound  of  mail  had  been  carried 
by  these  contractors  over  that  route.  Of  the  sum  which  he  so  allowed 
$10,000  went  to  the  contractors  who  were  carrying  the  mail,  and  $11,500 
went  into  the  pockets  of  the  parties  here,  or  some  of  the  parties  here. 
On  the  1st  of  August,  1880,  four  more  trips  were  added,  and  the 
result  was  that  a  route  which  had  cost  originally  on  the  public  bid- 
ding $2,888  was  run  up  to  $50,166.66,  of  which  the  subcontractor  got 
only  $20,000  or  $21,000.  Where  the  other  $30,000  went  other  than 
the  pocket  of  Yaile.  he  being  the  contractor  of  record,  and  some  of 
his  associates,  we  cannot  say,  unless  you  count  Thomas  J.  Brady  in  as 
one  of  those  associates.  The  net  revenue  of  that  entire  route  was 
$114.50.  Not  a  pound  of  through  mail  went  over  the  route.  There 
was  but  one  way  post-office  on  the  route.  The  letters  and  papers, 
all  told,  would  not  average  three  pounds  a  day.  Sometimes  they  did 
not  exceed  half  a  pound,  and  save  at  Fort  Harney,  the  single  station 
I  pointed  out  to  you,  there  was  not  over  all  the  balance  of  the  243 
miles  a  hut  or  a  cabin.  As  late  as  September  or  October,  1878,  the 
officers  at  Fort  Harney  wrote  Mr.  Brady  saying  that  they  could  not 
get  any  mail  matter;  that  passengers  arrived  there,  that  packages 
came  there,  but  they  could  not  get  their  mail.  You  will  see,  I  think, 
in  the  course  of  time,  that  there  will  be  some  attempt  to  say  that  In- 
dians were  interfering  with  it.  These  officers  say  that  passengers  could 
come  easily  and  mails  could  come  easily,  and  that  they  sent  their  mes- 
sengers regularly  to  Canyon  City.  They  said,  ''Won't  3^011  make  some 
arrangement  by  which  we  can  send  up  there  and  get  our  mail  ourselves, 
or  do  something  of  that  kind,  if  you  will  not  have  the  contractor  bring 
us  our  mail?"  That  letter  got  on  to  the  files  of  the  Post-Office  Depart- 
ment and  was  put  into  the  jacket  which  I  described  to  you  as  one  of 
these  envelopes  on  the  back  of  which  Mr.  Brady  makes  orders  for  expe- 


100 

iiition  and  increase  of  trips.  That  letter  was  used  as  one  of  the  vouchers 
upon  which  Mr.  Brady  made  an  increase  of  trips  and  speed.  The  coin- 
plaint  of  these  officers,  that  they  could  not  get  the  existing  mail  though 
passengers  and  baggage  could  come  there,  is  made  one  of  the  vouchers 
on  which  Brady  proceeds  to  order  more  mail  and  more  trips  and  to  pay 
more  money.  He  expedites  and  increases  the  number  of  trips  on  a  route 
which,  so  far  as  the  people  at  Fort  Harney  were  concerned,  never  ran 
there. 

Upon  that  route  the  petition  business  was  used,  and  in  connection  with 
it  is  rather  a  peculiar  development — I  think  I  mentioned  it  to  you.  In  one 
of  these  petitions  the  written  matter  comes  down  to  within  four  lines  of  the 
bottom  of  a  sheet  of  foolscap;  then  there  are,  I  think,  four  names  signed 
there.  The  petition  it  self  is,  as  we  think,  in  a  disguised  handwriting,  which 
we  think  we  shall  satisfy  you  is  that  of  John  E.  Miner.  The  first  name 
purporting  to  be  signed  to  that  petition  is  that  of  a  postmaster  at  Canon 
City,  who  will  tell  you  that  his  name  there  is  a  forgery ;  that  he  never 
saw  it,  and  never  would  have  put  it  there  if  he  had  seen  it.  The  ques- 
tion who  put  his  name  there  is  a  matter  that  we  are  going  to  take  some 
trouble  to  prove  to  you.  I  believe  we  shall  show  that  it  was  put  there 
by  John  K.  Miner.  There  are  three  other  names  on  that  piece  of  paper. 
There  is  in  that  region  a  man  named  M.  D.  Elfresh,  or  some  such  name 
as  that.  There  is  signed  to  the  paper  the  name  of  D.  M.  Elfresh.  No 
such  man  is  known  in  that  region,  or  along  that  route.  The  other  two 
names  are,  as  I  understand  it,  equally  unknown  along  the  route.  Now, 
having  reached  the  bottom  of  the  paper,  you  find  pasted  on  to  it  three 
or  four  sheets  full  of  names.  There  are  fifty  or  sixty  names,  apparently 
signed  by  different  people,  and  all  having  the  ajjpearance  of  genuine- 
ness; and  yet  we  shall  show  to  you  that  those  names  on  that  paper, 
pasted  on,  are  not  the  names  of  persons  who  live  in  or  who  ever  saw 
Oregon,  but  they  are  all  the  names  of  people — I  will  not  speak  as  to 
all,  but  they  are  scattered  through  in  such  a  way  as  to  indicate  that 
they  are  all  the  names  of  people  who  live  away  down  in  Southern  Utah, 
hundreds  of  miles  further  east  and  more  than  a  thousand  miles  further 
south  than  the  starting-point  of  this  route.  They  are  people  who  never 
saw  the  route,  never  had  anything  to  do  with  it,  and  who  did  not  sign 
any  such  petition.  They  are  people  who  signed  some  other  petition 
for  increase  of  some  route  in  Utah,  or  something  of  that  sort,  and  the 
names  have  been  detached,  as  we  shall  ask  you  to  believe  from  the 
evidence,  from  the  proper  petition  and  pasted  on  to  this  one  with  these 
three  or  four  forged  names  upon  it.  This  petition  has  been  used  by  Mr. 
Brady  as  one  of  the  pretended  vouchers  under  which  he  ran  up  this 
route  from  about  $2,880  a  year  to  $50,166  a  year. 

Mr.  HENKLE.  Will  you  say  that  that  petition  does  not  state  that  the 
signers  are  citizens  living  along  the  route? 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  will  give  you  the  benefit  of  that.  The  petition  does  not 
state  they  are  citizens  of  Oregon.  It  does  not  state  that  they  live  on 
that  route,  and,  unlike  some  of  the  other  lying  petitions  that  were  used, 
it  does  not  state  that  they  get  their  mail  matter  over  the  route.  But 
what  business  had  Mr.  Brady  to  use  as  a  voucher  for  taking  $49,000  a 
year,  or  any  sum,  out  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States,  a  petition 
signed  by  persons  who  did  not  live  within  thousands  of  miles  of  a  route 
which  produced  only  about  $150  a  year?  And  what  business  had  your 
client,  John  li.  Miner,  to  forge  that  petition,  as  forge  it  he  did,  when  he 
transferred  that  sheet  of  names  from  the  place  where  the  signers  put 
them,  to  the  other  heading. 


Mr.  WILSON.  Now,  will  you  Dot  be  frank  ^ndugii:co;teU-tojfckq  jury  that 
that  petition '••/  ^ ;,,;;'  '.„  >  •  •/  •  % •  J  /.;^ 

Mr.  BLISS.  [Interposing.]  ,1  will  give  you  gentlemen  a  chance  to  tell 
the  jury  anything  you  want  to.  I  say  that  was  one  of  the  vouchers  on 
which  Mr.  Brady  acted.  I  do  not  say  it  was  the  only  voucher  on  which 
he  acted. 

Mr.  WILSON.  It  was  put  on  file  after  he  made  the  order. 

Mr.  HENKLB.  You  want  to  tell  the  whole  truth,  do  you  not  ? 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  think  I  shall  state  it  truly.  -It  was  not  on  file  when 
some  of  the  orders  were  made.  It  was  on  tile  before  others  of  them 
were  made,  if  I  am  not  incorrect  in  my  recollection.  The  evidence  will 
show.  I  think  it  was  on  file,  but  even  if  it  was  not  it  does  not  help 
Judge  Henkle's  client  any.  If  he  put  an  unnecessary  forgery  on  the 
files  of  "the  Post-Office  Department  did  he  do  it  because  he  was  in  the 
daily  habit  of  so  doing,  or  why?  He  put  it  there  for  some  reason.  It 
may  have  been  intended  as  an  ex  post  facto  voucher.  I  do  not  care  what 
it  was.  It  was  a  square,  bold,  bare-faced  forgery  either  to  get  money 
out  of  the  Treasury  or  to  back  up  the  act  of  Thomas  J.  ISrady  in  having 
already  ordered  money  to  be  taken  out  of  the  Treasury.  Twenty-eight 
thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-six  dollars  of  that  $50,000  was  ordered 
to  be  paid  out  after  the  petition  was  filed.  That  is  the  route,  gentlemen 
of  the  jury,  in  which  we  have  the  transaction  with  the  postmaster  at 
Alvord.  Mr.  Miner  wrote  to  his  agent  out  there,  Mr.  Williamson,  "I 
find  that  Mr.  S.  H.  Abbott,  postmaster  at  Alvord,  is  writing  here, 
saying  you  do  not  need  any  weekly  mail.  Go  and  buy  him  up.  Shut 
him  up.  Get  rid  of  him.  We  cannot  afford  this  sort  of  thing."  That 
is  the  meaning  of  the  letter,  as  we  shall  ask  you  to  infer.  John  E.  Miner 
knew  that  Mr.  Abbott  was  writing  to  the  department.  John  R.  Miner 
had  so  written  to  Mr.  Williamson.  That  letter,  when  we  came  to  make 
an  investigation  after  Mr.  Brady  had  gone  out  of  office,  had  disappeared 
from  the  files  of  the  department,  and  there  is  no  evidence  on  file  there 
that  it  ever  existed.  We  have  only  the  word  of  John  R.  Miner  that  it 
ever  did  exist  there.  But  this  is  one  of  the  rare  cases  when  we  shall 
ask  you  to  take  the  word  of  Mr.  Miner.  Mr.  Williamson  was  told  to  go 
and  shut  the  mouth  of  that  man  by  paying  him,  and  Mr.  Williamson 
performed  that  duty,  paid  the  money,  and  took  a  voucher  for  his  pay- 
ment. We  shall  have  the  pleasure  of  showing  to  you  something  about 
that. 

Mr.  HENKLE.  That  will  be  explained. 

Mr.  MERRICK.  You  cannot  explain  it. 

Mr.  BLISS.  You  cannot  explain  it.  You  bought  the  man  off  once  for 
complaining  of  you  because  you  had  not  run  the  mail,  and  he  had  at 
least  to  have  a  mail  in  which  to  put  his  quarterly  report.  He  had  to 
travel  way  up  to  Canon  City  to  get  his  quarterly  report  in  the  mail,  and 
he  complained  to  the  department  that  it  was  pretty  bad  to  have  no 
mail  but  still  worse  to  have  to  travel  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  at  his 
own  expense  to  put  his  quarterly  report  in  the  mail,  and  so  they  paid 
him  for  his  expenses  in  doing  that  thing.  It  was  that  transaction  that 
encouraged  them  to  think  they  could  go  to  work  on  the  other  one.  They 
did  it  and  carried  it  out  faithfully.  That  was  one  of  the  cases  where 
they  paid  right  up. 

Route  44155,  from  The  Dalles  to  Baker  City,  was  let  as  275  miles  on 
a  schedule  of  120  hours,  or  five  days,  and  two  trips  a  week.  John  M. 
Peck  was  the  contractor,  and  he  was  to  get  from  the  Government  $8,288. 
Lock-box  714  was  to  be  used  as  in  the  other  cases.  Service  was  not 
begun  until  the  2d  of  September,  1878,  though  the  contract  required 


102 

them  to  eoi>;i'U4}C'3  or-  the  1st  of  July,  1878.  Indian  difficulties  011  a 
portion  of  Hie  vcute  it  is  claimed  existed.  The  service  having  been  com- 
menced on  the  2d  of  September,  1878,  onvthe  1st  of  October  Mr.  Vaile 
put  his  subcontract  on  file,  and  before  the  month  of  October  had  run 
out  petitions  began  to  come  in,  and  in  less  than  two  months  after  the 
service  was  commenced  it  was  increased  by  adding  one  trip  and  the  time 
was  reduced  from  120  hours,  or  five  days,  to  seventy-two  hours,  or  three 
days.  The  result  was  that  the  pay  was  run  up  from  $8,288  to  $31,080. 
On  that  route  there  was  a  little  liberality  in  the  sense  that  Brady's 
allowance  was  less  than  pro  rata.  If  you  believe  the  oath  of  the  con- 
tractor, then  Mr.  Brady  allowed  less  than  pro  rata,  and  instead  of  car- 
rying up  the  route  $31,080,  as  he  did,  adding  the  expedited  pay  to  the 
original  pay,  he  could,  under  the  oath,  have  carried  it  up  to  some  sixty 
odd  thousand  dollars,  I  think.  That,  however,  was  a  little  oversight, 
and  it  was,  as  I  recollect,  corrected,  for  at  a  later  period  in  the  progress 
of  the  contract  it  was  carried  up>  if  I  am  right,  to  $72,520.  Later  than 
that  there  came  off  $10,360  for  the  reduction  of  a  single  trip.  The  fact 
is,  that  in  the  spring  of  1880  Mr.  Brady  directed  one  trip  to  be  taken 
off  from  all  the  star  routes  in  the  country  which  were  over  one  trip 
a  week,  and  these  contractors  sent  out  a  circular  calling  attention 
to  it  and  saying  that  Congress  having  failed  to  make  the  extra  ap- 
propriation asked,  Mr.  Brady,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  the  expend- 
itures for  the  fiscal  year  ending  the  30th  of  June  within  the  amount  of  the 
appropriation,  was  compelled  to  cut  off  one  trip  all  around.  "We  give 
you  this  notice,  and  we  advise  you  to  write  to  your  member  of  Congress 
and  others."  Brady  estimated  for  $2,000,000  for  the  expense  of  the  star- 
route  service  for  that  year.  Congress  gave  him  every  dollar  he  esti- 
mated for,  and  yet  he  found  himself  obliged  to  go  to  Congress  in  the 
December  following  the  summer  of  his  estimate  and  ask  for  $2,000,000 
more,  and  when  Congress  hesitated  to  do  it,  and  set  on  foot  an  investi- 
gation which  seems  to  me  to  have  gone  just  up  to  the  verge  of  discover- 
ing these  frauds  and  then  to  have  stopped,  Mr.  Brady  ordered  one  trip 
a  week  cut  off  from  all  the  star-route  service  of  the  country.  These 
contractors  accompanied  that  notice  with  the  intimation  to  everybody 
concerned  in  transporting  the  mail  that  they  should  bring  pressure  to 
bear  upon  their  Congressmen  to  make  the  appropriation  and  restore  the 
service.  Mr.  Brady,  when  he  cut  off  one  trip  a  week  from  all  the  star- 
route  service  of  the  country,  which  reduction  was  rendered  necessary 
by  his  fraudulent  extravagance,  put  into  his  order  not  only  a  direction 
that  every  contractor  was  to  have  a  month's  extra  pay  on  all  that  service 
just  dispensed  with,  but  they  received  this  thirty  days'  pay  for  service 
which  they  did  not  perform,  and  which  Brady  told  them  they  could 
not  perform,  because  having  estimated  for  $2,000,000  he  had  spent 
$4,000,000. 

Mr.  HENKLE.  Was  not  that  the  law  ? 

Mr.  BLISS.  It  was  the  law  to  give  the  month's  extra  pay.  I  grant 
you  that.  It  was  not  the  law  for  Mr.  Brady  to  estimate  for"$2,000,000, 
run  it  up  to  $4,000,000  by  these  fraudulent  orders  such  as  I  have  called 
to  your  attention,  and  then  intimate  to  the  contractors  to  bring  pressure 
upon  Congress  to  get  his  extravagant  appropriations  and  thus  enable 
you  gentlemen  to  come  in  here  and  undertake  to  say  that  Congress  has 
condoned  your  offense.  Now  on  that  route  the  extra  pay  to  the  con- 
tractor for  the  month  amounted  to  several  thousand  dollars,  as  I  rec- 
ollect it.  Having  been  cut  off  in  April,  this  trip  was  on  the  16th 
of  July  restored.  Brady  had  got  in  the  mean  time  from  Congress 
$1,250,000,  and  he  had  also,  which  was  of  more  importance,  got  into 


103 
> 

a  new  fiscal  year  with  a  new  star- route  appropriation  to  operate 
upon  for  the  whole  country.  Therefore  he  restored  this  trip,  and 
the  result  was  that  the  contractors  were  at  .most  without  the  one 
trip  for  two  months  and  they  got  pay  for  it  for  one  of  those  months. 
Mr.  Rerdell,  I  think  it  is,  for  he  was  a  voluminous  correspondent, 
suggests  to  the  contractors,  in  one  of  the  letters  we  shall  produce 
to  you,  that  it  will  probably  be  a  beneficial  thing  for  them  to 
have  the  trip  taken  off  for  a  month  because  they  can  fatten  up 
their  stock  arid  get  them  in  better  condition. 

On  the  Ifcth  of  September,  1879,  going  back  a  little,  Peck  swore  it 
would  take  on  the  existing  schedule  eight  men  and  ten  horses  to  perform 
the  service  on  that  route.  It  was  270  miles  long  and  they  had  to  go  over 
it  each  way  twice  in  a  week.  They  had  therefore  to  travel  540  miles  in 
a  week.  Mr.  Brady  accepted  Mr.  Peck's  oath  that  to  do  that  would  take 
only  ten  horses.  I  will  not  say  that  ten  horses  could  not  have  done  it, 
but  I  do  say  that  those  ten  horses  would  have  to  travel  a  good  many 
times  as  many  miles  in  a  day  as  Mr.  Brady  said  in  his  orders  for  expe- 
dition was  a  proper  number  of  miles  for  a  horse  to  travel.  He  said  on 
one  of  the  routes  that  two  miles  a  day  was  all  a  horse  ought  to  travel, 
or  four  miles  in  double  team,  and  from  two  to  six  miles  a  day ;  that  was 
about  all  he  allowed.  But  he  accepts  this  statement  of  Mr.  Peck  of  the 
number  of  miles  these  horses  ought  to  travel.  Mr.  Peck  also  swore 
that  to  reduce  the  speed  from  120  hours  to  seventy-two  hours  would 
carry  up  the  men  from  eight  to  twenty,  and  the  horses  from  ten  to  sixty- 
six.  To  go  over  that  route  in  five  days,  twice  each  way,  you  need  but 
ten  horses.  To  go  over  that  route  twice  each  way,  in  three  days,  you  need 
sixty-six  horses.  That  is  the  statement  of  the  oath.  As  to  that  route 
we  have  this  peculiarity :  There  is  Baker  City  [indicating  on  the  map] 
and  here  is  The  Dalles  [indicating] ;  there  was  from  Baker  City  another 
route  passing  up  by  Pendleton  and  down  to  The  Dalles.  Every  pound 
of  mail  matter  which  came  from  the  east  bound  to  The  Dalles,  which  is 
a  large  place  in  Oregon,  went  over  this  latter  route  even  though  it  arrived 
at  Baker  City.  It  went  from  Baker  City  up  around  that  way  because  it 
was  quicker'and  more  certain  than  to  go  by  the  other  route.  Every 
pound  of  mail  matter  that  went  from  The  Dalles  to  Baker  City  or  farther 
east  went  around.  Although  longer,  the  route  could  be  traveled  quicker 
and  more  certainly.  The  first  station  out  of  this  route  this  side  of  Baker 
City  is  Auburn,  and  a  letter  at  Auburn  which  was  intended  to  goto  The 
Dalles  did  not  go  over  this  route  [indicating],  but  went  the  other  way 
east,  and  then  around,  and  came  west  to  The  Dalles.  A  letter  from 
Auburn  intended  to  go  to  the  first  station  the  other  way  from  this  end 
of  the  route  went  first  east,  then  north,  then  west,  and  then  south. 
Not  only  did  not  the  matter  from  the  terminal  stations  pass  over  the  route 
north ;  matter  coming  from  beyond  the  terminal  stations,  but  the  matter 
which  originated  upon  a  portion  of  the  route  went  around  about  out  of 
its  way  to  strike  another  route  so  as  to  get  to  its  destination  quicker 
and  more  certainly.  That  is  the  route  which  the  facts  show  so  clearly 
was  not  a  through  route.  It  was  a  route  that  produced  $2,300  a  year, 
and  Brady  ran  it  up  to  $72,520  a  year.  There  were  only  three  settle- 
ments on  the  entire  270  miles.  Those  settlements  were  all  in  one  val- 
ley, within  a  compass  of  fifteen  miles.  They  were  all  right  in  there  [in- 
dicating on  the  map],  in  the  valley  known  as  John  Day  Valley,  \\7hich 
was  a  valley  to  which  an  alleged  discovery  of  gold  had  brought  a  cer- 
tain number  of  people.  In  point  of  fact,  gentlemen,  though  expedition 
was  ordered  in  November,  1878,  within  two  months  after  the  service 
actually  commenced,  there  was  no  expedition  performed  on  that  route 


104 

until  November  or  December,  1879,  and  yet  expedition  was  paid  for  all 
that  time  at  the  rate  of  $72,000  a  year.  If  it  had  got  up  to  $72,000 
as  early  as  that,  it  is  possible  that  some  of  the  increases  did  not  begin 
so  early.  At  any  rate,  expedition  was  paid  for  upon  that  route.  I 
think  we  shall  be  able  to  show  you  that  there  ^ere  some  curious  devices 
to  get  the  evidence  of  a  terminal  postmaster  that  the  mail  had  been 
carried  when  it  had  not  been  carried  at  all.  A  petition  upon  which 
that  expedition  was  granted  was  interlined  in  a  way  to  indicate  that 
there  has  been  applied  to  it  some  of  the  peculiar  abilities  which  are 
shown  to  have  existed  in  connection  with  other  petitions  on  other 
routes. 

The  route  from  Bismarck  to  Fort  Keogh,  35051,  was  let  at  250  miles 
long,  on  a  schedule  of  eighty-four  hours  of  time  once  a  week.  John  E. 
Miner  was  the  contractor.  On  the  2d  of  April,  1878,  before  the  con- 
tract term  commenced,  when  John  E.  Miner  was  the  contractor,  Stephen 
W.  Dorsey,  who  was  a  Senator,  writes  to  an  engineer  officer  of  the 
Northern  Pacific  Eailroad — I  think  it  was  with  reference  to  the  length 
of  the  route — and  he  gets  a  reply,  which  he  places  on  file,  showing  that 
in  point  of  fact  the  route  was  303  miles,  instead  of  250  miles,  long.  On 
the  23d  of  December,  1878,  three  trips  were  added,  and  $4,700  allowed 
for  those,  being  pro  rata.  Then  the  service  was  reduced  from  eighty- 
four  hours  to  sixty-five  hours,  and  $27,050  was  allowed  for  that,  making 
a  total  of  $35,000 ;  and  on  the  2d  of  August,  1879,  three  trips  more 
were  added,  making  $70,000  on  a  route  where  the  original  contract 
price  was  $2,350.  Miner  swore  that  three  trips  would  take  twelve  men 
and  thirteen  animals  on  the  then  schedule ;  that  to  reduce  it  to  sixty- 
five  hours  from  eighty-four — twenty  hours — would  require  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  animals.  Is  not  John 
E.  Miner  the  champion  swearer  of  the  universe,  gentlemen  ?  There  is 
no  pretense,  there  will  not  be  any  pretense,  that  that  affidavit  was  cor- 
rect. It  was  sworn  to  by  a  man  who  never  saw  the  route.  In  that 
respect,  however,  he  is  just  like  all  the  rest  of  these  defendants.  There 
is  not  an  affidavit  on  file  from  any  one  of  these  defendants  who,  at  the 
time  he  made  the  affidavit,  ever  had  seen  the  route,  as  I  am  informed. 
Miner  swore  that  it  would  take  three  hundred  men  and  animals  to  per- 
form the  service  in  sixty -five  hours  on  a  route  in  fact  303  miles  long.  It 
would,  he  said,  take  a  man  and  an  animal  to  every  mile  to  perform  that 
service.  Now  that  statement  was  more  than  Brady  could  swallow.  I  am 
stating  ik  pretty  strong,  gentlemen,  I  know,  When  I  say  that.  But  it  was 
more  than  he  could  swallow,  and  therefore  in  that  case  he  did  not  make 
expedition  up  to  the  limit.  He  made  expedition  considerably  below  the 
limit.  But  you  will  remember,  gentlemen,  that  in  another  portion  of  my 
opening  I  called  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  there  appeared  on  file 
proof  of  another  affidavit  of  the  same  John  E.  Miner,  in  which  he  made 
a  statement  entirely  different  as  to  the  number  of  men  and  animals 
which  would  be  required,  only  about  a  third  of  what  is  stated  in  that 
affidavit,  and  though  Mr.  Brady  could  not  swallow  this  second  affidavit 
of  Miner's  and  make  the  allowance  up  to  the  limit  called  for  by  it,  he 
compromised  things  by  making  an  allowance  somewhat  in  excess  of  the 
first  affidavit  of  Mr.  Miner. 

Mr.  HENKLE.  How  much  ? 

Mr.  BLISS.  Somewhat  in  excess ;  about  $2,000  if  I  remember  right ; 
and  when  anybody  gets  within  $2,000  of  Miner's  figures  he  gets  sur- 
prisingly near  them. 

Now  that  affidavit  of  Miner's,  gentlemen,  was  made  within  two  months 
after  he  had  been  putting  petitions  into  the  Post-Office  Department  de- 


105 

Glaring  that  that  route  ran  through  trackless  prairie,  with  110  inhabitants, 
which  was  true  5  with  no  call  for  the  mail,  which  was  true,  except  that 
it  was,  as  I  ain  going  to  show  you  presently,  a  route  of  growing  impor- 
tance between  two  terminal  stations,  and  where  it  had  been  claimed  that 
he  must  have  a  company  of  soldiers  to  accompany  every  carrier  over 
the  route  in  order  to  carry  the  mail  safely,  and  if  his  150  men  had 
actually  been  needed  as  mail  carriers,  he  would  have  taken  something 
like  half  the  Army  of  the  United  States  to  accompany  his  mail-carriers 
over  that  route,  if  his  affidavit  had  been  true. 

That  route,  gentlemen,  was  the  route  on  which  Eerdell  made  the 
proposition  to  Pennell,  the  contractor,  that  when  he  got  oat  a  hundred 
miles  or  so  he  should  pretend  that  there  was,  thirty  or  forty  or  fifty 
miles  north  of  it,  a  settlement,  and  that  he  should  get  up  a  petition  and 
have  it  signed  by  his  gang  of  workmen,  and  that  in  that  way  they  should 
ask  for  mail  service  to  connect  with  this  route  ;  and  that  they  should 
ask  for  the  appointment  of  one  of  their  number  as  postmaster  at  this 
supposititious  place,  on  this  supposititious  route,  and  then  they  would 
get  their  arrangement  made  in  Washington  to  carry  their  mail  over 
this  supposititious  route  they  were  going  to  make,  and  get  an  allowance 
for  fifty  or  sixty  or  seventy  miles.  Mr.  Pennell  was  too  honest  for  them. 
He  would  not  do  it.  He  will  come  here  and  tell  you  the  whole  trans- 
action, and  you  will  believe  every  word  he  says  when  you  see  him. 
That  is  the  route,  gentlemen,  where  they  commenced  by  building  a 
station  every  seventeen  miles,  and  when  asked  by  the  contractor  why 
they  wanted  stations  every  seventeen  miles,  they  said  that  they  were 
going  to  have  an  increase,  and  when  they  got  an  increase  of  trips  and 
speed  they  would  have  to  have  stations  every  seventeen  miles,  which 
was  true.  But  they  were  so  certain  that  they  were  going  to  have  it 
that  they  built  those  stations  every  seventeen  miles,  when,  until  they 
got  the  expedition,  they  used  only  every  other  station.  They  spent  in 
building  their  stations,  and  for  things  other  than  the  horses  that  were 
to  run  the  route,  $6,600,  before  there  had  been  an  order  for  expedition; 
before  there  had  been  any  sign  in  the  department  that  there  was  any 
call  for  expedition,  when  the  Indians  were  going  over  that  trackless 
prairie,  according  to  their  papers  on  file  here ;  and  they  spent  $6,600 
for  these  permanent  improvements,  while  at  their  existing  rate  of  pay- 
ment they  were  getting  only  $9,500  in  the  whole  four  years  of  their 
contract.  That  is  the  route,  gentlemen,  upon  which  John  W.  Dorsey 
proposed  to  Pennell  to  go  into  partnership  with  him,  and  told  him  that  it 
was  to  be  expedited,  and  told  him  that  there  would  be  two  increases  with- 
in a  year;  that  one  of  them  would  be  an  increase  up  to  $25,000,  and  it 
is  the  route,  gentlemen,  on  which  they  got  one  increase  within  a  year 
which  was  up  to  $33,000  instead  of  $25,000,  and  on  which  they  got  a 
second  increase  in  thirteen  months  instead  of  within  the  year,  which 
carried  it  up  to  $52,000. 

Now,  gentlemen,  that  route,  as  I  have  said,  was  a  route  of  consider- 
able and  growing  importance.  The  reason  why  their  efforts  to  have  it 
discontinued,  on  the  ground  that  it  belonged  to  the  Indians  and  not  to 
them,  did  not  succeed,  was  that  the  inhabitants  of  Dakota,  represented 
by  their  Delegate  here,  insisted  upon  it  that  there  should  be  a  mail  route 
from  Bismarck  to  Fort  Keogh,  which  was  a  military  post  within  the  Ter- 
ritory of  Dakota.  There  was,  in  that  point  of  view,  a  justification  of 
the  existence  of  the  route.  There  may  have  been,  possibly,  a  justifica- 
tion of  the  increase  of  the  number  of  trips  to  some  extent.  There  never 
was  any  justification  of  the  increase  of  speed  and  expedition.  The  very 
orders  which  Brady  made  refer  to  applications  for  increase  corning  from 


106 

officers  of  the  Army,  which  officers  did  not  ask  for  any  increase  of  ex- 
pedition. They  asked  for  increase  of  trips  on  the  ground  that  they 
wanted  constant  communication  with  what  we  may  call  the  outer  world. 
They  did  not  ask  for  increase  of  speed  at  all.  Brady  chose  to  take 
those  petitions  as  a  means  of  ordering  increase  of  speed.  That  route 
was  let  at  $2,350  for  one  trip.  If  he  had  made  it  seven  trips  a  week 
he  could  have  run  it  up  to  but  $16,000.  That  was  too  paltry  a  thing  for 
these  gentlemen.  They  had  to  have  orders  for  expedition  and  increase 
of  speed  that  could  give  him  any  justification,  even  if  he  did  not  believe 
Miner's  affidavit,  in  carrying  the  amount  up  to  $50,000,  and,  therefore, 
he  chose  to  pervert  the  letters  of  the  officers  of  the  Army  asking  for 
increase  of  trips  into  applications  for  increase  of  speed,  and  he  will 
tell  you,  probably,  that  one  of  the  noblest  officers  of  the  Army,  Gen- 
eral Miles,  whom  it  is  one  of  the  proudest  recollections  of  my  life  that 
I  have  something  to  do  with  enabling  him  to  get  into  that  position  in 
the  lower  grade  of  the  military  where  he  exhibited  those  capacities 
which  made  him  a  brigadier-general  in  the  Eegular  Army,  passing  from 
a  simple  clerk  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  in  New  England  advised  it. 
General  Miles  made  an  application  for  an  increase  of  service.  They  trans- 
formed that  into  an  application  for  increase  of  speed ;  and  a  few  others  like 
that  were  used  for  authority  for  this  expedition.  Do  not  understand 
that  there  are  not  other  papers  there.  There  are  other  papers  on  file 
asking  expedition.  There  is  no  question  about  that.  You  all  know, 
and  the  court  will  take  judicial  notice  of  it,  that  you  can  get  petitions 
anywhere  for  anything.  Of  course  you  can  get  petitions  anywhere  in 
the  western  territory  from  men  who  honestly  and  fairly,  and  from  their 
point  of  view  property,  sign  petitions  asking  that  they  should  have  a 
mail  service  every  day  in  the  week,  twice  a  day  if  you  choose,  and  that 
it  should  run  ten  miles  an  hour  if  you  choose,  for  the  simple  reason  that 
it  is  a  convenience  to  them.  It  is  not  paid  for  by  them.  It  is  paid  for 
by  the  general  public,  which  means  the  public  of  the  East;  and  they 
signed  those  petitions  and  sent  them  here  because  they  believed,  until 
the  developments  of  this  cause,  that  they  had  a  Second  Assistant  Post- 
master-General who  would  look  at  the  petitions  and  say,  "This  is  the 
representation  of  one  interested  side  urging  its  wishes  and  its  views ;  I  am 
to  judge  of  that  judicially,  with  a  view  to  the  interests  and  demands  of 
the  entire  country,  and  with  a  view  to  the  amount  which  Congress  has 
chosen  to  place  at  my  disposal." 

Mr.  HENKLE.  Won't  you  tell  the  jury  what  General  Sherman  said 
about  it  ? 

Mr.  BLISS.  General  Sherman  never  said  a  word  in  favor  of  expedi- 
tion, and,  if  I  may  refer  to  it,  you  heard  and  I  heard  General  Sherman 
say  that  expedition  was  not  necessary. 

Mr.  MERRICK.  [To  Mr.  Henkle.]  Why  do  you  not  keep  quiet ! 

Mr.  HENKLE.  I  want  you  to  tell  the  truth. 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  am  telling  the  truth  right  straight  along.  You  are  in 
the  position  of  the  sailor  who  said  that  what  led  him  to  prefer  a  par- 
ticular kind  of  religious  service  was  because  he  had  a  chance  to  jaw 
back.  Your  time  will  come. 

The  route  from  Vermillion  to  Sioux  Falls,  35015,  was  let  as  fifty  miles 
long  and  at  fourteen  hours  time,  trips  once  a  week.  It  was  really  seventy- 
five  miles.  Mr.  John  W.  Dorsey  was  the  contractor,  and  $398  was  the 
amount  for  which  he  undertook  to  perform  the  service.  On  the  1st  of  Au- 
gust, 1878,  he  made  a  contract  with  a  Mr.  Leach  to  perform  that  service  for 
him,  and  he  agreed  to  pay  him  $500  for  it  while  he  was  only  going  to  get 
$398.  But  then  lie  agreed  that  if  it  was  put  up  to  two  trips,  foreseeing 


107 

Brady's  action,  then  lie  would  pay  him  $900  for  it.  On  the  1st  of  Au- 
gust, 1879,  a  new  contract  with  Leach  was  filed,  which  provided  for  six 
trips,  and  Leach  was  to  get  $2,150  in  case  of  six  trips.  Lock -box  714 
appeared  there,  and  the  address  was  to  be  the  care  of  John  K.  Miner, 
though  John  W.  Dorsey  was  the  contractor.  There  was  an  addition  of 
a  couple  of  miles  on  account  of  some  change  in  the  post-office.  Then 
came  the  six  trips  provided  for  in  Leach's  subcontract.  Then  came  the 
expedition  to  ten  hours,  and  by  that  time  the  $388  originally  to  be  paid 
by  the  Government  was  carried  up  by  Brady's  orders  to  something  over 
$6,000.  On  that  route  Mr.  Vaile,  who  was  nothing  relative  to  it  offi- 
cially, was  the  man  who  made  the  affidavit  for  expedition.  There  were 
various  changes  upon  the  route,  to  which  I  will  not  stop  to  call  your 
attention  ;  but  in  December,  1879,  all  the  postmasters  on  the  route  con- 
curred in  asking  an  increase  of  the  time  to  sixteen  hours,  representing 
that  the  mail  could  not  be  carried  in  the  then  time.  There  was  no  other 
mail  over  the  route.  The  petitions  in  that  case  were  sent  out  from  some- 
where, apparently  from  here,  with  blanks  left  in  them.  They  were 
signed  with  the  blanks  left  in  them  for  the  hours  as  I  recollect — it  may 
have  been  trips ;  for  something — and  the  petitions  got  back  here  and 
part  of  them  got  on  file  and  never  had  the  blanks  filled,  up,  and  there  they 
are  to-day  with  the  blanks  unfilled.  But  when  these  postmasters  wrote, 
asking  that  the  time  should  be  reduced  on  the  ground  that  it  was  too  low, 
what  was  the  result  ?  The  postmasters  sent  the  application  through  Judge 
Bennett,  the  Delegate  from  the  Territory;  and  a  member  of  Congress,  or 
one  occupying  that  position,  is  entitled  to  the  consideration  of  an  an- 
swer. When  I  comnmeced  my  opening  I  supposed  that  that  answer  was 
entirely  lost.  I  knew  that  the  original  was  lost.  I  supposed  that  there 
was  no  evidence  of  its  existence.  But  there  has  been  found  the  answer 
of  Mr.  Brady,  and  that  answer  of  Mr.  Brady,  as  appears  to  be  indorsed 
on  the  papers  that  we  found,  is :  u  Wirte  Judge  B.  that  it  cannot  be  done." 
He  does  not  say  why  it  cannot  be  done,  except  the  obvious  rule  that 
when  a  Delegate  or  Member  of  Congress  or  Senator  asks  an  increase  of 
the  amount  of  money  taken  from  the  Treasury,  it  can  be  done  promptly, 
provided  the  money  is  to  go  into  the  hands  of  contractors  who  have 
made  proper  arrangements.  If  the  Delegate,  Member  of  Congress,  or 
Senator  asks  that  the  amount  of  money  taken  from  the  Treasury  be 
decreased,  if  it  is  to  come  out  of  the  pockets  of  these  same  gentlemen, 
the  answer  is:  "Write  Judge  B.  that  it  cannot  be  done;"  and  they 
wrote  Judge  B.  it  could  not  be  done,  and  then  they  went  on  arid  added 
this  other  remarkable  reason :  "  It  would  be  an  injustice  to  other 
bidders  at  the  letting  of  the  route." 

Mr.  Dorsey,  or  Mr.  Miner,  or  whoever  it  was,  having  got  this  contract 
as  the  lowest  bidder,  having  then  got  the  route  expedited  and  got  it 
run  up  from  $398  to  six  thousand  and  odd  dollars,  the  postmasters 
asked  that  that  increase  be  taken  off,  and  Mr.  Brady  says  it  cannot  be 
done,  because  it  would  be  an  injustice  to  the  other  bidders  on  the  route. 
What  have  the  other  bidders  to  do  with  that  thing?  John  W.  Dorsey 
was  the  bidder.  It  the  postmasters'  request  had  been  granted  the 
amount  going  into  the  hands  of  Dorsey  and  company  would  have  been 
diminished.  Dorsey  would  have  been  still  responsible  to  carry  the 
mail;  still  bound  to  carry  the  mail  under  his  original  contract;  but  Mr. 
Brady  says  it  cannot  be  put  back  in  that  position,  though  the  post- 
masters on  the  route,  and  there  are  ten  or  twelve  of  them,  all  say  it 
ought  to  go  there.  Mr.  Brady  says  it  cannot  go  there  because  it  would 
be  injustice  to  other  bidders  on  the  route.  Mr.  Brady  in  giving  that 


108 

reason  did  not  do  justice  to  bis  own  abilities.  He  ought  to  have  found 
some  better  reason  than  that. 

The  fact  is,  gentlemen,  that  that  petition,  and  that  application  to  Ben- 
nett to  attend  to  it,  was  but  the  end  of  a  long  series  of  applications  pro- 
ceeding from  the  route,  representing  that  the  rate  of  speed  required  was 
greater  than  the  wants  of  the  locality  demanded,  greater  than  could  be 
carried  out,  and  that  there  had  been  irregularities  consequent  upon  not 
complying  with  the  schedule.  There  had  been  that  series  of  moves 
right  along  from  the  locality,  and  finally  Judge  Bennett  was  written  to 
go  and  attend  to  it,  and  he  went  with  that  result  to  which  I  have  called 
your  attention. 

On  the  route  from  Eedding  to  Alturas,  No.  46247.  there  were  two  trips 
a  week.  The  route  was  179  miles  long,  and  the  time  was  108  hours. 
The  agreement  was  to  pay  $5,988.  Eerdell  sent  out  the  inevitable  peti- 
tions on  that  route,  and  lock-box  714  comes  in.  The  first  petitions  for 
increase  bear  date  the  12th  of  April,  1878,  three  months  before  service 
was  to  commence.  On  the  5th  of  October,  1878,  when  Major  filed  his 
subcontract,  he  was  to  be  paid  $2,200  more  than  the  Government  was 
paying  to  Peck,  the  contractor.  But  it  contained  a  provision  looking 
to  six  trips.  The  provision  was  this,  and  it  shows  how  unjust  was  Mr. 
Brady's  idea  of  allowing  pro  rata  on  trips:  He  was  to  do  the  six  trips 
for  twice  the  amount  of  money  for  which  he  was  to  do  two  trips,  and 
he  was  to  do  seven  trips  for  $17,000,  when,  if  there  had  been  pro  rata, 
he  would  have  been  entitled  to  have  been  paid  $24,000.  One  trip  was 
added  before  the  service  began  at  all.  It  was  added  in  June,  1878,  and 
an  allowance  of  $2,994  was  made  for  that.  In  December,  1878,  the  time 
was  reduced  from  108  hours  to  72  hours,  and  $26,946  was  allowed  for 
that.  So  that  a  route  starting  at  $5,988  was  within  less  than  six  months 
carried  up  to  $35,925,  of  which  sum  the  subcontractor  got  $21,000,  ac- 
cording to  the  order  which  Brady  himself  made,  and  $14,925  according 
to  the  same  order  went  to  the  nominal  contractors  here.  By  subse- 
quent changes  the  contractor  got  $41,916,  and  the  subcontractor,  who 
did  the  work,  got  of  that  only  $23,000.  And  yet,  gentlemen  of  the  jury, 
while  all  that  money  was  being  paid  for  a  reduction  from  108  to  72 
hours,  in  point  of  fact  the  mail  was  being  carried  all  the  time  before  the 
payment  was  ordered  by  Brady  in  41  to  43  hours  in  summer  and  60 
hours  in  winter.  Brady  paid  that  large  sum  under  the  pretense  that 
thereby  he  was  getting  the  time  of  carrying  the  mail  reduced  from  122 
hours  to  70  hours,  when,  in  point  of  fact,  the  mail  was  being  carried 
in  between  60  and  41  hours  all  the  time.  There  was  no  pretense  of  ne- 
cessity for  paying  that  money— money,  mind  you,  that  was  paid  without 
getting  anything  for  it;  money,  the  great  bulk  of  which  went  to  parties 
here  in  Washington  with  whom  Brady  was  dealing,  and  did  not  go  to 
the  contractor  who  was  carrying  the  mail.  They  were  doing  a  large 
passenger  and  express  business  with  four-horse  coaches.  They  were 
glad  to  take  the  mail,  which  was  not  large,  along  with  their  passengers 
and  express  matter  for  the  original  sum  which  the  contractor  was  con- 
tent to  give  them  and  which  he  agreed  to  give  them,  reserving  to  him- 
self a  very  handsome  sum.  Yet,  in  fact,  the  contractors  claimed,  and  Mr. 
Brady,  obedient  to  their  call,  gave  large  increases,  being  liberal  with 
the  money  of  the  tax-payers  of  the  country. 

The  route  from  Julian  to  Colton,  46132,  was  let  as  120  miles  long,  on 
a  54-hours  schedule.  John  M.  Peck  was  the  contractor,  and  he  agreed 
to  carry  themail  one  trip  a  week  for  $1,188.  Mr.  Hayes  was  the  first  sub- 
contractor, and  was  to  have  $  1,069.20.  That  contract  contained  a  provision 
for  a  future  increase  to  two,  three,  and  six  trips;  that  was  withdrawn; 


109 

then  Mr.  Vaile's  subcontract  went  on  file.  Down  in  June,  1879,  and  less 
than  a  year  after  tbe  service  commenced,  two  trips  were  added  and  the 
time  was  reduced  from  fifty-four  hours  to  twenty-six  hours.  I  want 
you  to  remember  those  figures,  gentlemen.  And  $5,340  was  added  for 
doing  it.  The  mail  is  stated  to  have  weighed  about  thirty  pounds  and 
to  be  chiefly  printed  matter.  It  supplied,  in  all,  about  140  families.  To 
the  terminal  station  the  mail  went  quicker  by  another  route.  The  pe- 
titions on  this  route  asked  for  thirty-six  hours.  There  was  not  a  peti- 
tion anywhere  that  asked  for  less  than  thirty-six  hours.  They  asked 
for  it  in  different  forms,  but  they  all  wound  up  with  thirty-six  hours; 
and  yet  the  affidavit  which  was  made  by  the  contractor  had  the  fore- 
knowledge that  Mr.  Brady  was  going  to  disregard  the  petitions  and 
give  a  schedule  of  twenty-six  hours.  He  gave  the  schedule  of  twenty- 
six  hours.  It  so  astonished  the  simple  people  out  in  the  locality  that 
they  did  not  believe  it  possible  that  he  could  mean  it.  They  thought 
he  wras  doing  what  he  told  Walsh  he  was  not  doing — making  orders  for 
fun ;  that  he  was  u  funning,"  as  the  boys  say,  and  they  went  on  for  a 
considerable  time  treating  it  as  if  it  wras  intended  to  be  an  order  for 
thirty-six  hours,  because  they  gained  nothing  in  twenty-six  hours,  and 
all  they  cared  for  was  thirty-six  hours.  They  got  twenty-six  hours, 
and  yet,  gentlemen,  in  that  very  order,  we  shall  show  it  to  you,  the 
twenty-six  hours  was  undoubtedly  originally  written  thirty-six,  and, 
for  some  reason  or  other  it  was  altered  into  twenty-six ;  so  that  the 
putting  it  to  twenty-six  hours  wras  not  a  mere  careless  error.  There 
has  been  a  change  in  the  order,  which  looks  as  if  it  was  a  change  by 
substituting  twrenty-six  for  thirty-six.  But  there  is  no  dispute,  for- 
tunately, from  other  parts  of  the  order,  but  that  the  one  to  which 
Brady  affixed  his  signature,  and  which  he  approved,  was  a  twenty -six 
hour  schedule. 

The  COURT.  I  think  we  wrill  hear  your  peroration  to-morrow. 

Mr.  BLISS.  Your  honor  seems  to  insist  upon  it  that  my  opening  shall 
have  the  regular  ornaments. 

At  this  point  (4  o'clock  p.  m.)  the  court  adjourned  until  to-morrow 
morning  at  11  o'clock. 


TUESDAY,  DECEMBER  19,  1882. 
• 

The  court  met  at  11  o'clock. 

Present,  counsel  for  the  Government  and  for  the  defendants. 

Hon.  GEORGE  BLISS  resumed  his  opening  address  to  the  jury  as  fol- 
lows: 

Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  if  I  had  not  already  occupied  time  so  greatly 
in  excess  of  anything  I  expected,  I  should  state  with  considerable  con- 
fidence that  I  should  be  able  to  relieve  you  from  listening  to  ine  within 
a  very  short  time.  I  think  I  shall  be  able  to  confine  my  remarks  to  an 
hour  this  morning. 

As  to  the  routes  of  which  I  have  not  spoken  I  take  up  next  the  route 
from  Eawlins  to  White  Eiver,  which  is  route  30113.  It  is  in  the  Terri- 
tory of  Wyoming,  one  hundred  and  eighty  miles  long.  It  was  let  on  a 
schedule  of  one  hundred  and  eight  hours,  one  trip  a  week.  Mr.  J.  W. 
Dorsey  was  the  contractor,  at  $1,700,  to  be  paid  by  the  Government, 
Nearly -at  the  outset  a  Mr.  Perkins  became  the  subcontractor  at  $2,500, 
$800  more  than  the  Government  paid.  On  the  15th  of  April,  1879,  and 
again  on  tbe  9th  of  May,  1879,  directions  were  given  that  all  communi- 


110 

cations  on  that  route  should  be  sent  to  the  care  of  M.  C.  Eerdell.  As  early 
as  October  1,  1878,  three  months  after  the  contract  went  into  operationr 
there  was  filed  a  subcontract  with  a  man  named  Wright,  by  which  he  was  to 
be  paid  for  two  trips  $2,850 ;  for  three  trips,  $4,065 ;  for  six  trips,  $8,317, 
I  think,  and  25  per  cent,  of  all  expedition.  That  was  the  Wright  contract. 
I  am  wrong  in  saying  it  was  filed.  I  think  that  contract  was  not  filed. 
On  the  28th  of  December,  1878,  in  the  same  year,  there  was  a  subcontract 
filed  by  Mr.  Eerdell.  There  were  also  upon  that  route  at  different  times 
other  subcontracts.  On  the  llth  of  November,  1879,  Mr.  Stephen  W. 
Dorsey  appeared  as  the  subcontractor.  As  early  as  the  2d  of  May.  1879, 
Mr.  Dorsey  telegraphed  to  Perkins,  who  was  then  performing  the  serv- 
ice, that  there  had  been  an  order  for  three  trips  a  week,  the  trips  to  be 
performed  in  fifty  hours  each ;  the  original  schedule  having  been  once  a 
week  at  one  hundred  and  eight  hours.  Mr.  Dorsey  telegraphed  that 
there  had  been  an  order  to  that  effect.  There  never  was,  in  fact,  any 
such  order  made  by  the  Post-Office  Department,  or  made  by  Mr.  Brady. 
Mr.  Dorsey,  though,  obviously,  was  at  that  early  stage  interested  ID  the 
route.  About  the  time  that  Mr.  Dorsey  telegraphed  as  to  a  change  to 
fifty  hours  there  was  in  lact  a  change  to  forty-five  hours.  On  the  7th 
of  February,  1879,  Perkins's  subcontract  went  on  file  with  one  of  those 
sliding  scales  paying  him  for  increase  of  trips.  On  the  llth  of  Novem- 
ber in  that  year,  as  I  have  already  said,  Mr.  Stephen  W.  Dorsey  ap- 
peared as  the  subcontractor.  In  December,  1879,  Messrs.  Foote 
&  Dalton  appeared  as  the  subcontractors,  and  some  time  in  1880  a  Mr. 
Taylor  appears  and  then  disappears  and  then  appears  again.  All 
this  shifting  about  having  taken  place,  it  was  on  the  12th  of  May,  1879, 
that  two  trips  were  added  ;  the  time  was  reduced  from  one  hundred  and 
eight  hours  to  forty-five  hours,  and  that  was  done  at  the  cost  to  the 
Government  of  about  $12,000.  On  the  1st  of  April,  1881,  seven  trips 
were  added  at  a  further  cost  of  $18,275,  carrying  the  total  up  to 
$31,981.20  on  a  route  which  originally  cost  the  Government  only  $1,700. 
The  contractor  originally  paid  $800  to  the  subcontractor  more  than 
he  got  from  the  Government,  and  there  was  a  time  in.  the  history  of 
those  subcontracts  where  the  route  was  transformed  in  such  manner 
that  the  contractor  having  originally  paid  out  $800  more  than  he  got 
from  the  Government  was  receiving  about  $12,000  a  year  more  than  he 
paid  out.  He  always  received  between  $8,000  and  $9,000  a  year  more 
than  he  paid  after  the  arrangements  for  increase  and  expedition  had 
taken  place.  Upon  that  route,  gentlemen,  a  Wank  affidavit  was  sent 
to  Mr.  Perkins,  the  subcontractor,  in  a  letter  from  M.  C.  Eerdell.  I 
told  you  yesterday  that  Eerdell  was  the  omnipresent  correspondent  on 
behalf  of  these  parties,  writing  in  his  own  name,  writing  in  the  names 
of  Miner  and  of  Dorsey  and  of  everybody  else,  and  writing  as  to  their 
contracts  in  turn.  A  blank  affidavit  for  expedition  was  sent  to  Perkins 
with  a  direction  to  Perkins  that  he  was  to  swear  to  it  just  as  it  was, 
the  language  being  specific  : 

Swear  to  it  just  as  it  is. 

The  number  of  men  and  horses  that  were  in  use  and  the  number 
of  men  and  horses  that  would  be  in  use  were  equally  left  blank.  Mr. 
Perkins  thought  it  an  extraordinary  thing,  but  he  went  before  a  notary 
and  swore  to  it.  He  sent  that  affidavit  back  here  and  at  some  time 
that  affidavit  was  filled  up  with  the  number  of  the  men  and  horses, 
both  those  then  required  and  those  that  would  be  required,  and  it  was 
filed  in  the  department,  and  in  the  order  in  which  Mr.  Brady  makes 
his  order  for  expedition,  he  refers  to  the  affidavit  of  the  subcontractor 


Ill 

as  the  basis  of  his  authority  for  so  acting.  There  was  at  that  time 
also  another  affidavit  there  as  to  men  and  horses,  but  it  was  not 
referred  to,  as  I  recollect  it,  in  the  statement  made  in  making  the  order 
for  expedition.  But  though  referred  to,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  as  the 
basis  of  the  order  which  Brady  made  reducing  the  service  to  forty-five 
hours,  in  point  of  fact  Mr.  Perkins's  affidavit  was  for  eighty -four  hours 
and  not  for  forty-five  hours  at  all.  Brady  pretended  to  base  his  order 
upon  that  affidavit,  but  when  he  came  to  make  his  reduction  and  his 
allowance  he  reduced  it  to  forty-five  hours,  and  forty-five  hours  was 
the  time  covered  by  a  subsequent  affidavit  put  on  file  by  Mr.  Dorsey, 
indicating,  as  we  think,  gentlemen,  that  when  they  sent  that  affidavit 
to  Wyoming  to  be  sworn  to,  and  when  they  started  in  originally  they 
started  in  looking  to  a  reduction  only  of  eighty-four  hours,  but  when 
they  came  to  carry  out  their  plan,  either  because  their  greed  increased 
and  they  wanted  more  money,  or  possibly  because  Mr.  Brady  saw  that  to 
make  an  expedition  to  eighty-four  hours  and  to  allow  the  requisite  sum 
of  money  for  it  did  not  present  such  a  gain  in  time  as  to  anybody  who 
examined  the  case  would  justify  any  change  whatever,  for  the  one  reason 
or  the  other  they  reduced  their  time  that  they  sought  for  to  forty-five 
hours,  and  Mr.  Dorsey  made  the  affidavit  looking  to  forty-five  hours. 
But  the  indorsement  on  the  papers  had  apparently  been  drawn  with 
the  idea  that  it  would  be  eighty-four  hours,  and  therefore  the  reference 
was  made  to  Mr.  Perkins's  affidavit,  but,  in  point  of  fact,  when  they 
came  to  actually  execute  it  they  found  it  forty-five  hours,  and  the  only 
authority  for  that  was  the  affidavit  of  Mr.  Dorsey.  But  they  still  left 
the  reference  on  the  back,  as  made  on  the  basis  of  Mr.  Perkins's  affida- 
vit, which  was  for  eighty-four  hours. 

That  is  the  route,  gentlemen,  on  which  you  may  remember  that  early 
in  February,  1881,  Mr.  Eerdell  wrote  to  Perkins  or  to  Taylor,  I  have 
forgotten  which  it  was,  in  Wyoming,  that  if  he  could  get  the  petitions 
here  before  the  4th  of  March  he  had  arranged  to  have  the  two  trips  or 
three  trips  a  week  carried  up  to  seven  trips  a  week.  The  letter  got  to 
Wyoming  somewhere  about  the  middle  of  February.  The  parties  went 
at  once  to  work.  At  Eawlins  they  started  out  on  the  same  day, 
getting  a  petition  written  by  some  one  there,  and  got  signatures 
through  the  bar-rooms  and  similar  places  there  and  started  the  pe- 
tition back.  The  route  was  maintained,  gentlemen,  from  Eawlins 
down  to  White  Eiver,  because  at  White  Eiver  there  was  an  im- 
portant Government  military  station.  It  was  the  region  where  there 
had  been  at  one  time,  long  prior  to  these  orders,  what  we  are  all  fa- 
miliar with,  the  Ute  outbreak,  where  there  was  a  terrible  massacre  by 
the  Indians.  The  route  was  maintained  solely  for  the  purpose  of  com- 
munication with  the  military  post.  There  was  little,  almost  no  mail 
matter  passing  over  the  route  save  for  them.  When  they  went  to  get 
the  petitions  at  the  military  post  in  obedience  to  the  request  of  Mr. 
Eerdell  they  tried  the  commanding  officer  of  the  post,  but  he  refused 
to  sign.  They  could  not  get  anybody  to  sign  except — there  does  appear 
hereapetition  signed  by  a  lieutenant  and  somebody  else.  Buttheman  who 
was  employed  to  get  the  petitions  signed,  after  going  to  the  commanding  of- 
ficer and  others,  and  trying  to  get  them  to  sign,  found  that  they  would  not, 
gave  up  the  business,  destroyed  the  form  of  petition  which  he  had  and  did 
not  send  it.  Those  petitions  did  not  get  back  here  by  the  4th  of  March.  They 
got  back  here  on  the  5th  of  March,  I  think  it  was.  On  the  8th  of  March 
Mr.  Thomas,  L.  James,  having  become  Postmaster- General  on  the  6th — 
entered  upon  his  duties,  I  think,  upon  the  6th — Mr.  Thomas  J.  Brady 
being  still  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General,  made  the  order  allow- 


112 

ing  the  carrying  of  the  service  up  to  seven  trips — the  seven  trips 
which  Mr.  Eerdell  in  the  preceding  February  said  he  had  arranged  to 
have  made,  provided  the  petitions  were  here  before  the  4th  of  March. 
Mr.  Brady  did  not  go  back  upon  him.  Mr.  Brady  made  that  order, 
and  when  the  order  was,  as  everything  that  is  done  in  the  Post- 
Office  is,  entered  on  a  large  blank  book  which  is  known  as  the  daily 
journal,  and  that  journal  was  taken  to  the  Postmaster-General  by  the 
clerk  in  charge  to  have  his  signature  as  indicating  his  approval  of 
it,  Mr.  James  saw  that  the  order  had  been  made.  He  signed  the  jour- 
nal, and  directed  the  clerk  to  see  that  that  order,  which  was  the  last 
order,  as  I  recollect  it,  on  the  journal  of  the  day,  was  revoked.  That 
that  clerk  communicated  that  information  to  Mr.  Brady  was  shown  by 
the  fact  that  soon  after  Mr.  Brady  came  into  see  Mr.  James  to  talk 
about  that  order,  and  he  wanted  to  know  whether  that  directon  to  re- 
voke that  order  indicated  the  policy  of  Mr.  James  as  Postmaster-Geir 
eral.  He  was  informed  that  it  did,  and  he  left.  Mr.  James  assumes 
that  he  had  obeyed  the  order  that  he  had  given  him  to  have  the  ordei 
revoked,  and  it  was  not  until  the  last  week  in  August,  as  I  recollect  it, 
that  it  was  discovered — after  Mr.  Brady  had  gone  out  of  office — that 
he  had  failed  to  revoke  that  order,  and  that  it  had  continued  in 
operation  all  the  time  down  to  that  time  with  its  consequent  result 
of  drawing  from  the  Government  money  at  the  rate  of  $18,725  a  year. 
That  order  was  made  in  that  way,  and  then  having  been  made — by  the 
way,  gentlemen,  this  letter  of  Mr.  EerdelPs  which  I  have  referred  to  was 
a  letter  we  had  great  difficulty  in  getting  at.  We  could  hear  of  it 
everywhere.  We  could  not  find  it.  The  recipient  had  passed  it  to 
somebody  else,  somebody  else  had  passed  it  to  another  party,  that 
other  party  had  mislaid  it,  or  it  was  in  his  baggage  at  a  distant  place, 
and  everything  of  that  kind  ;  but  we  finally  succeeded  in  finding  all  of 
the  witnesses,  and  when  we  got  them  here,  after  their  statement  of  the 
contents  of  the  letter,  we  did  succeed  in  getting  from  the  other  side 
the  press  copy  of  the  letter.  It  is  the  only  paper  that  they  have  ever 
been  willing  to  give  to  us  as  showing  any  of  their  actions  in  connection 
with  these  contracts.  We  make  no  complaint  whatever  of  it,  gentle- 
men. We  simply  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  they  have  their 
papers  in  their  possession,  and  that  we  have  not  got  them.  Upon  that 
route,  gentlemen,  I  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  it  may  be  claimed 
to  have  been  kept  up  in  connection  with  the  Ute  outbreak.  Now, 
the  Ute  outbreak  occurred  in  the  fall  of  1879.  The  orders  that  were 
made  upon  this  case  of  increase  were  made  entirely  without  refer- 
ence to  that  outbreak,  because  the  first  order  adding  two  trips  and 
$3,400  was  made  on  the  1st  of  May,  1870,  long  before  the  outbreak. 
The  order  for  expedition  reducing  it  to  forty-five  hours  was  made  on  the 
1st  of  May,  1879,  and  long  before  the  outbreak.  The  order  for  seven 
trips  was  made  on  the  8th  of  March,  1881,  and  long  after  the  outbreak 
had  been  quelled,  and  after  the  number  of  the  military  stationed  at  the 
post  had  been  greatly  reduced.  I  state  this  because  there  is  in  the  pa- 
pers an  attempt  to  show  that  these  orders  and  the  expedition  upon  that 
route  was  made  in  view  of  the  emergency  or  the  circumstances  created 
by  the  Ute  outbreak.  The  Ute  outbreak  was  on  the  27th  of  September, 
1879.  Orders  were  either  made  on  the  1st  of  May,  1879,  or  on  the  8th  of 
March,  1881.  The  order  of  March,  1881,  undoubtedly  had  the  approval 
of  the  military  authorities,  or  some  of  the  military  authorities  here. 
All  the  offices  upon  that  route  from  Eawlins  to  White  Eiveu,  including 
the  two  terminal  offices,  produced  a  net  revenue  which  varied  from 
$1,245  to  $1,724  in  different  years.  Excluding  Eawlins,  which  is  on 


113 

the  railroad,  and  receivc'd  its  mail  matter  east  and  west  entirely  inde- 
pendently of  this  route,  and  we  find  this,  that  the  offices  upon  that  route 
in  1870  produced  a  revenue  of  $79.84,  and  in  1880,  after  the  hiilitary 
had  been  increased  they  produced  $325.89,  and  in  1881,  $301.51.  And 
yet  the  Government  was  made  to  pay  upon  that  route,  which  admittedly 
was  a  local  route,  sums  as  high  as  $31,981.25,  and  leaving  a  profit  to  the 
contractor,  who  did  no  work,  which  varied  at  different  times,  but  gen- 
erally was  about  $12,000.  On  that  route,  also,  let  me  remind  you,  gentle- 
men, that  after  Mr.  Kerdell  had  got  his  order  increasing  it  to  seven  trips 
in  April,  1881,  he  writes  back  to  the  subcontractor  out  there  calling  his 
attention  to  the  fact  in  substance  of  what  a  good  thing  he  had  done  for 
him ;  how  much  he,  the  subcontractor,  was  going  to  make  by  being  al- 
lowed to  perform  the  service  at  $20,000,  when  the  contractor  was  get- 
ting $31,900,  and  confident  that  he  would  feel  very  grateful  and  anxious 
to  do  something  for  somebody,  for  getting  him  so  good  a  thing.  Mr. 
llerdell,  at  some  little  length,  impressed  upon  him  that  he,  lierdell, 
got  that  arrangement  made,  and  that  the  subcontractor  out  there  must 
not  suppose  that  any  attorney  or  anybody  else  had  anything  to  do  with 
it;  that  he,  Kerdell,  did  it  all;  that  he,  Eerdell,  did  so  good  a  thing  for 
the  subcontractor  in  arranging  to  give  him  $20,000  for  performing  the 
service,  while  the  contractor  got  $31,900;  that  he,  lierdell — that  is  the 
substantial  inference  from  tne  letter — wants  to  be  paid  for  what  he  did. 

The  route  from  Mineral  Park  to  Pioch^,  gentlemen,  is  the  last  route 
included  in  this  indictment  which  I  shall  take  up.  It  is  route  40104. 
It  was  let  as  being  two  hundred  and  thirty-two  miles  long.  The  time 
was  eighty-four  hours,  and  it  was  one  trip  a  week.  John  W.  Dorscy 
was  the  contractor,  and  the  amount  to  be  paid  by  the  Government  was 
$2,982.  On  this  Peck,  with  no  relations  to  the  route,  in  a  letter  written 
by  Miner,  who  had  equally  no  relations  to  the  route,  asked  leave  to  sub- 
let the  contract,  and  Brady  allows  it,  John  W.  Dorsey  being  the  con- 
tractor. 

There  was  a  subcontract  on  file  in  IlerdelPs  name  here  at  one  time. 
There  was  another  subcontract  on  tile  in  the  name  of  McKibben,  some- 
times known  as  "Joe"  McKibben,  a  well-known  resident  of  Washington 
Then  there  was  a  subcontract  on  tile  in  the  name  of  Salisbury,  a  regu- 
lar mail  contractor.  There  had  been  originally  made  a  subcontract  with 
one  Jennings,  and  he  had  sent  it  here  to  the  Delegate  of  the  Territory, 
Mr.  Dagget,  to  be  tiled  under  the  subcontract  law.  That  subcontract 
was  left  at  the  ISecond  Assistant  Postmaster-General's  office  to  be  filed. 
The  clerk  received  it,  with  nointimationthatit  could  not  be  filed.  Inpoint 
of  fact  there  was  then  on  file  a  subcontract  of  Mr.  Kerdell's,  and  under 
the  law  there  could  not  be  two  on  file.  Therefore  that  contract  never 
was  filed.  Mr.  Jennings  went  on  per  forming  or  pretending  to  perform — 
tor  I  think  he  was  singularly  deiicient  in  his  performing — his  subcon- 
tract and  assuming  that  he  was  to  get  his  pay  from  the  Government,  and 
when,  after  a  time,  he  got  no  pay  he  came  on  here,  two  years  afterwards, 
I  think  it  was,  and  for  the  first  time  then  found  that  his  subcontract 
had  not  been  filed.  That  resulted  in  a  good  deal  of  stir  here,  and  a 
good  deal  of  what  I  suppose  I  may  fairly  call  a  row,  and  as  the  result 
of  it  Mr.  Brady  undertook  to  make  an  order  that  Jennings's  subcontract 
should  be  placed  on  file,  and  should  be  placed  on  file  as  of  the  date 
when  it  was  originally  brought  here,  thus  cutting  off'  everything  that 
had  been  done  since,  and  creating  the  greatest  confusion,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  payment  had  been  made  after  that  time  to  the  other  subcon- 
tractors who  had  their  contracts  on  file,  and  presenting  the  question  as 

8GB 


114 

to  what  Mr.  Jeunings's  relations  were  to  the  department  under  such 
circumstances  as  that. 

On  the  liith  of  January,  1879,  six  months  after  the  contract  went  into 
effect,  two  trips  were  added,  and  the  time  was  reduced  from  eighty-lour 
hours  to  sixty  hours.  On  the  23d  of  July,  1879,  such  ;m  addition  was 
made  as  to  make  the  route  from  Mineral  Park  to  Pioche  a  daily  route, 
and  the  result,  therefore,  was  that  from  that  time  on  a  contract  which 
had  been  let  by  public  bidding  for  $2,982,  was  run  up  to  $52,033.37. 

As  to  that  route  there  are  a  series  of  remarkable  facts  to  which 
I  desire  to  call  your  attention.  In  the  first  place,  there  is  a  petition 
on  file  which  was  made  the  basis  of  one  of  Brady's  orders,  which 
purported  to  be  a  petition  of  citizens  furnished  by  the  mail  on  that 
route  from  Pioche,  Nevada,  to  Mineral  Park,  Arizona,  asking  for  more 
frequent  malls  and  a  reduction  from  eighty-four  hours  to  sixty  hours 
They  describe- theni selves  as  citizens  furnished  mail  by  the  United 
States  mail  on  that  route.  Of  the  signers  of  that  petition,  no  one  that 
can  be  identified  lives  or  ever  did  live  on  that  route.  No  one  of  them 
lived  nearer  than  a  place  called  Signal,  a  hundred  miles  south  of  the 
southerly  end  of  that  route,  and  the  postmaster  at  the  southern  terminus 
of  the  route,  Mineral  Park,  who  opened  every  mail  bag  that  went  over 
that  route  and  examined  every  letter  that  went  over  that  route — and  I 
shall  show  you  pretty  soon  that  he  had  not  any  great  labor  to  do  it  — 
that  postmaster  will  say  to  you  that  he  never  knew  of  a  letter  passing 
over  that  route  going  to  or  from  Signal;  that  the  inhabitants  down  at 
Signal  did  not  get  their  matter  on  that  route  at  all.  Thej'  got  it  in  an- 
other way.  They  were  not  citizens  "  furnished  by  the  mail  "on  that 
route,  and  yet,  gentlemen,  some  of  those  people  honestly  and  squarely 
and  properly  I  believe  signed  a  petition,  but  that  petition  is  a  forged 
and  altered  petition.  When  you  see  it  it  will  be  obvious  to  everyone  of 
you  that  it  is  forged  and  altered ;  that  the  route  being  40104  there  was 
taken  a  petition  from  some  other  route  which  w?as  40100  and  something, 
the  numbers  being  in  numerals,  the  figure  at  the  end  was  altered  from 
the  route  for  which  that  petition  was  signed  so  as  to  make  it  fit  this 
route  with  the  termini  of  the  route  Pioche,  Nevada,  and  Mineral  Park, 
Arizona,  so  altered,  written  over  erasures,  as  anybody  can  see,  and 
written  over  erasures  under  such  circumstances  that  anybody  can  see 
that  it  related  to  a  route  not  in  Nevada  and  Arizona  as  there  de- 
scribed $  and  moreover,  that  petition  bearing  some  forty  or  fifty  names, 
you  will  all  agree  with  me  when  you  see  it  that  the  signatures  on  it 
were  made  by  not  exceeding  five,  six,  or  seven  different  people.  There 
are  not  more  than  five,  six,  or  seven  different  handwritings  to  all  those 
names,  and  it  is  a  petition,  as  I  said,  of  people  claiming  to  be  furnished 
with  mail  matter  on  the  route.  All  of  the  signers  who  can  be  identi- 
fied lived  elsewhere,  and  the  petition  is  thus  altered,  as  I  have  said. 
But,  gentlemen,  the  extraordinary  things  in  connection  with  this  busi- 
ness did  not  stop  there.  There  was  another  route,  from  Mineral  Park 
to  Ehrenberg,  Mineral  Park  being  the  terminus  of  both  of  those  routes. 
On  the  same  day  in  which  Mr.  Brady  made  the  order  increasing  the 
service  or  expedition  from  Mineral  Park  to  Pioche  he  made  a  similar 
order  upon  the  route  from  Mineral  Park  to  Ehrenberg,  and  that  peti- 
tion is  a  precise  duplicate  of  the  petition  on  the  Mineral  Park  and 
Pioche  route.  The  signatures  are  the  same.  Its  language,  as  being 
parties  receiving  mail  matter  on  the  route,  is  identical.  The  names  are 
obviously  written  by  the  same  parties,  and,  gentlemen,  it  is  altered 
and  erased  and  forged  in  precisely  the  same  way.  It  never  was  made 
for  the  Mineral  Park  and  Ehrenberg  route.  Those  two  bogus  petitions 


115 

were  on  one  and  the  same  clay,  when  on  their  face  any  man  who  sees 
them  could  tell  that  they  were  fraudulent,  accepted  by  Mr.  Brady  as 
his  authority  for  directing — I  don't  remember  whether  that  is  an  increase 
of  trips  or  an  increase  ot  speed  ;  at  any  rate,  one  or  the  other,  which 
took  from  the  Treasury  a  large  amount  of  money.     The  petitions  are 
altered  not  only  in  the  route  and  the  number  of  the  route,  but  they  are 
altered  iu  the  time  and  everything  of  that  kind,  so  that  they  are  com- 
pletely diVerted  from  the  use  for  which  they  are  prepared  ;  but  not  only 
that,  gentlemen  ;  that  increase  up  to  $52,000  was  made  on  the  29th  of 
Jamiary,  1879.     The  first  increase  was  from   $2,982  by  the  adding  of 
$19,318  for  expedition  and  two  trips,  and  then  $29,733.33  was  added  for 
four  trips  more.     That  expedition  was  made  on  the  Mineral  Park  and 
Pioche  route — one  of  the  orders.    The  order  for  the  addition  of  $29,000  was 
made  upon  a  single  letter.    The  other  order  was  made  nominally  upon  the 
petition  to  which  I  called  your  attention.     The  single  letter  was  written 
by  Sidney  Dillon,  the  president  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company, 
and  it  was  a  letter  which  asked  for  communication  by  the  Mineral  Park 
and  Pioche  route,  which  was  a  portion  of  the  route  leading  down  to  the 
Southern   Pacific  Kailroad,  a  rival  route  of  the  Union  Pacific.     It  was 
requested  on  the  ground  that  it  would  be  of  very  great  value  in  develop- 
ing the  Territories,  and  giving  intercommunication  between  the  people 
along  the  line.     Twenty-nine  thousand  dollars  were  taken  out  of  the 
Treasury  on  thij  single  recommendation  of  the  president  of  a  railroad  com- 
pany representing  the  necessities  and  importance  of  a  complete  daily  con- 
nection on  that  route.     And  yet,  gentlemen,  upon  the  route  we  find  this 
condition  of  things:  From  the  10th  October,  1879,  to  the  31st  of  Decem- 
ber, in  the  same  year,  we  are  enabled,  on  thirty-nine  days,  to  fix  the  num- 
ber of  letters  and  the  amount  of  postal  matter  which  went  over  that  route. 
We  can  fix  it  absolutely.     The  postmasters,  misunderstanding  their  in- 
structions, instead  of  counting  the  number  of  bags,  counted  the  number 
of  letters.     As  there  was  only  one  bag,  and  they  did  not  suppose  any- 
body ever  thought  there  would  be  more  than  one,  it  never  occurred  to 
them  that  what  was  required  was  the  record  of  the  number  of  bags; 
so  we  find  that  in  the  whole  thirty-nine  days  there  went  over  that  route 
one  way  thirty-one  letters.     On  twenty  of  the  thirty-nine  days  no  single 
letter  went  over  the  route  that  way,  but  the  mail-carrier,  with  the  mail- 
bags,  passed  over  the  route  from  end  to  end.  The  only  effect  of  that  trans- 
action on  his  part  was  to  aid  these  parties  here  iu  drawing  $52,000  a 
year  from  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States.     On  thirteen  of  those 
thirty-nine  days  one  letter  went  over  the  route  in  that  direction ;  on 
three  days  two  letters ;  on  one  day  four  letters ;  and  on  one  day  it  got  up 
to  the  magnificent  number  of  five  letters.     But,  gentlemen,  every  one  of 
those  letters  during  the  thirty-nine  days  were  way  letters.     In  the  other 
direction  the  total  was  a  little  larger.    There  never  was  a  letter  during 
the  whole  time  that  went  over  the  en  tire  length,  of  the  route  that  started 
from  Pioche  at  the  north  and  reached  Mineral  Park  at  the  south.     The 
letters  were  chiefly  taken  upat  a  little  intermediate  town,  Saint  Thomas. 
That  being  the  condition  of  things,  and  one  of  the  increases  having  been 
made  upon  the  letter  of  Mr.  Sidney  Dillon  representing  the  importance 
of  this  intercommunication  from  road  to  road  for  through  mails,  what 
do  we  find  ?     On  the  22d  of  January,  1880,  the  increase  having  baen 
made  on  the  23d  of  July,  1879,  Mr.  Brady  makes  an  order,  in  which  he 
recites  that  these   mail   bills,  showing    that   "  there  was  little  mail 
matter  passing  over   the  route  and  that  the  service  was  irregularly 
performed"  (which    latter  fact  the    mail    bills    did  not  show  at  all), 
therefore  that  the  route  should  be  reduced  from  the  1st  of  Febmary^ — 


116 

'this  order  having  been  made  on  the  22d  of  January — back  to  its  original 
price,  $2,982  ;  that   all  the  increase  which  he,  Brady,  had  made  by 
which  the  sum  of  $2,082  had  been  run  up  to  $52,000  a  year  should  be 
cut  off,  because  the  mail  bills  showed  that  there  was  little  mail  matter 
passing  over  the  route,  and,  as  he  said,  that  the  service  was  irregu- 
larly performed.     He  was  so  indignant  that  he  would  not  even  give 
their — and   it  is  the  only  case  I  think  where  he  failed  to  do  it — the 
month's  extra  pay  on  the  service  cut  off,  though  the  contractor  claimed, 
and  probably  correctly,  that  under  the  law  and  the  contract,  if  the  serv- 
ice was  cut  off  he  had  a  right  to    his  mouth's  extra  pay  upon  it. 
But  here  was  Mr.  Brady's  honest  heart  so  full  of  indignation  because 
he  had  been  induced  to  put  up  the  cost  to  $52,000,  when  there  were 
in  thirty-nine  days  only  twenty-one  letters  passing  over  the  route- 
that  fact  obviously  having  been  brought  to  his  attention — that  he  cut 
it  all  off  with  one  fell  swoop.     And  yet  Mr.  Brady's  honesty  did  not 
last  him  longer  than  the  28th  of  the  same  month,  for  on  that  day  he 
made  another  order  reciting  his  order  cutting  it  all  down  and  then  re- 
citing that  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  route  formed  a  part  of  the  direct 
line  of  communication  between  the  Central  and  Southern  Pacific  Kail- 
roads  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  maintain  a  portion  of  the  service. 
The  mail  bills,  which  he  had  himself  seen,  showed  him  thatthe  route  did 
not  form  any  portion  of  a  route  for  intercommunication  between  those 
two  roads,  because  it  showed  him  that  no  solitary  letter  had  ever  left 
the  line  of  the  Union  Pacific  Kailroad  Company  on  the  north  and  reached 
the  southern  terminus  of  that  mail  route  on  the  south.     He  recited, 
however,  that  because  that  was  so  he  would  not  cut  the  service  all  oft' 
and  reduce  the  payment  down  to  the  original  sum  of  $2.980,  but  he  would 
reduce  it  to  three  trips  a  week  and  he  would  only  deduct  $29,733.33, 
leaving  the  contractor  with  his  twenty-odd  thousand  dollars  clear.    And 
then  his  indignation  was  so  far  modified  also  that  he  gave  the  contractor 
his  month's  extra  pay  on  the  service  cut  oft'.     Having  reduced  the  pay  to 
$2,982  six  days  previously  on  the  ground  that  there  was  no  mail  matter 
as  appeared  by  the  mail  bills,  he  put  it  back  six  days  later  to  twenty- 
odd  thousand  dollars  on  the  pretense  that  it  was  part  of  a  through 
route,  when  those  very  mail  bills  showed  it  was  not  any  portion  of 
that  route.     Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  we  shall  show  you  some  facts  that 
will  perhaps  give  a  reason  for  this  action  of  Mr.  Brady's  consistent 
with  the  belief  that  the  original  cutting-down  order  was  not  the  result 
of  a  spasm  of  conscience.    The  original  cutting-down  order  was  dated 
on  the  21st  or  22d  of  January.     On  the  12th  day  of  January,  eight 
days  preceding,  Mr.  Brady  had  been  called  before  an  investigating 
committee  of  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  and  had  been  examined 
somewhat  in  detail,  but  only  partially,  and  he  had  been  called  upon  to 
account  for  his  estimate  of  $2,000,000  as  all  that  was  necessary  for  the 
star-route  service  made  but  a  few  months  previously,  while  he  was  then 
asking  Congress  to  give  him  $2,000,000  more  to  cover  a  deficiency  which 
he  had  created,  or  which  would  exist  under  the  orders  which  he  had  made, 
if  those  orders  continued  in  force  to  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year.     He 
was  called  upon  to  give  his  reasons,  and  to  give  facts  in  connection 
with  them.     He  was  allowed  to  go  oft'  the  stand,  but  he  was  directed 
to  prepare  and  furnish  certain  tabular  statements,  and  to  give  certain 
detailed  information  which  was  subsequently  to  be  furnished  to  the  com- 
mittee.    He  left  the  committee-room  and  went  back  to  his  office,  and 
soou  afterwards  we  find  him  cutting  oft  this  whole  service  and  redue- 
in"1  it  from  $52,000  to  $2,900.     Undoubtedly  in  the  momentary  throw- 
in*  off  of  balance  which  would  come  over  a  man  under  such  circum- 


117 

stances  when  he  found  that  an  investigation  was  upon  him  and  was  ap- 
parently beiug pressed  by  a  committee  whokuewsomethiug  and  meant  to 
know  more,  he  made  this  order  of  red  notion.  But  six  days  later  there 
came  a  little  calm  reflection,  as  we  think  you  will  infer  from  the 
facts,  and  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  if  he  'allowed  the  record  to 
stand  in  that  way  the  question  would  be,  u  How  did  you  ever  come 
to  put  the  price  up  to  where  it  was!  What  justification  had  you  for 
that,  if  you  say  there  is  no  mail  matter  on  the  route  F  So  he  put 
the  service  back  to  the  extent  of  three  trips,  and  took  from  the 
Treasury  some  twenty-three  or  twenty-four  thousand  dollars  a  year  for 
so  doing.  Upon  that  route,  gentlemen,  the  net  revenue  in  the  year 
1879  was  $701.39.  For  the  year  1880,  after  Brady's  fostering  ex- 
pedition orders  had  been  made,  the  income  ran  down  to  $597.  In  the 
year  1881  it  recovered  to  $653.67.  If  you  take  off  the  post-offices 
which  were  not  on  other  mail  routes,  Mineral  Park,  which  was  on  three 
other  routes,  and  Pioche,  which  was  on  four  other  routes,  and  also  on  a 
railroad,  and  take  only  the  post-offices  which  were  dependent  upon  this, 
route  for  their  mail  matter,  the  entire  revenues  of  all  the  post-offices  of 
this  character  were  less  than  $50  a  year,  and  for  the  supply  of  them  Mr. 
Brady  directed  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  to  pay,  and  it  did  pay, 
at  the  rate  of  over  $52,000  a  year. 

But,  gentlemen,  I  will  show  to  you  that  the  order  was  persisted  in 
after  the  mail  bills  brought  to  Mr.  Brady's  notice  the  fact  that  there  was 
no  justification  for  it.  We  shall  present  to  you  other  evidence  which 
will  show  you  that  in  point  of  fact  Mr.  Brady  knew,  or  was  bound  to 
know  before  any  order  was  made,  that  there  was  no  necessity  for  and 
no  propriety  in  any  such  order  of  increase  or  expedition.  On  the  26th. 
of  August,  1879,  Mr.  Bean,  living  not  on  the  route  but  north  of  the 
route,  a  lawyer  well  known  in  Nevada,  wrote  that  the  mail  was  an  aver- 
age of  six  letters  a  day,  and  that  the  population  along  the  route  was 
from  twenty  to  thirty  at  different  stations  ;  and  he  says  truly,  because 
he  was  in  the  same  condition  as  a  great  many  other  people  before  this 
investigation  started,  that  he  did  not  know  the  causes  that  led  to  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  route.  He  said  it  was  not  done  in  consequence  of 
any  petition  from  the  Pioche  end  of  the  route,  which  was  the  north  end 
of  the  route.  I  have  shown  you  it  was  not,  nor  was  it  done  in  conse- 
quence of  petitions  from  the  south  end  of  the  route.  It  was  done  under 
the  pretense  of  petitions  from  a  point  a  hundred  miles  south  of  the  south 
end  of  the  route.  Mr.  Bean  says  he  is  sure  the  orders  could  not  have 
been  made  by  any  one  who  knew  the  facts.  He  was  wrong  there,  gen- 
tlemen. However,  he  added  "  and  advised  without  personal  interest." 
No  man  who  advised  without  personal  interest  could  have  done  the 
thing  that  was  done  on  that  route.  There  are  some  other  details  upon 
that  route,  but  I  will  not  stop  to  go  over  them. 

Now,  gentlemen,  I  have  gone  through  this  case  somewhat  in  detail, 
and  yet  omitting  much  that  will  come  out  in  the  evidence  concerning 
these  nineteen  routes  in  this  indictment.  I  have  spoken  to  you,  you  wil  I 
undoubtedly  think,  at  great  length,  and  probably  unnecessary  length, 
but  I  have  spoken  only  in  outline,  as  it  will  appear  from  the  evidence,, 
as  to  the  facts  applicable  to  this  case,  and  the  facts  upon  which  we  shall 
ask  you  with  great  confidence,  when  the  evidence  closes,  to  render  a 
verdict  of  guilty  against  these  defendants.  I  have  stated  nothing  to 
you,  gentlemen,  which  I  do  not  believe  we  shall  be  able  to  prove.  I 
have  stated  nothing  which  I  do  not  believe  the  court  should  allow  us  ti> 
prove.  Yet,  of  course,  you  have  already  seen  the  indication  that  there 
will  be  an  attempt  on  the  other  side  to  exclude  some  portion  of  the 


proof.  I  have  stated  nothing,  as  I  have  said,  so  far  which  we  do  not 
regard  as  entirely  at  our  command;  evidence  which  we  are  in  a  posi- 
tion to  place  before  you  at  any  time.  I  now  desire  to  call  your  atten- 
tion to  one  single  other  piece  of  evidence  wiiich  we  hope  to  place  before 
you,  but  as  to  which  I  am  bound  to  say  I  cannot  speak  with  entire  cer- 
tainty. 

There  is  an  ex- Senator  of  the  United  States,  like  Mr.  Dorsey,  a  car- 
pet-bagger from  one  of  the  Southern  States.  When  the  gentlemen 
concerned  in  the  present  management  of  this  prosecution  came  into  the 
case  and  took  up  the  papers  they  found  there  had  been  left  on  the 
record  a  detailed  statement  that  this  witness  could  testify  to  various 
facts  showing,  among  other  things,  the  payment  of  money  to  Mr.  Brady 
by  Mr.  Stephen  W.  Dorsey.  I  do  not  desire  to  go  into  details  further 
as  to  what  the  witness  would  testify  to,  because  it  is  possible  that  we 
may  not  have  him  here,  and  for  this  reason,  gentlemen,  he  is  a  ingi- 
tive,  with  an  order  of  this  court  for  his  arrest,  and  we  are  seeking  to 
serve  him 

Mr.  WILSON.  [Interposing.]  Your  honor,  I  want  to  know  if  this  is  a 
proper  statement  to  make. 

The  COURT.  He  is  stating  what  he  expects  to  be  able  to  prove. 

Mr.  WILSON.  No ;  he  is  not. 

Mr.  DAvrt>GE.  He  says  he  does  not  expect  to  have  him  here. 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  do  not  say  so.     I  say  we  expect  to  have  him. 

Mr.  WILSON.  All  right.     Go  on. 

Mr.  BLISS.  I  say,  however,  that  he  has  been  in  concealment.  I  say 
he  has  been  concealed  in  Nevada,  and  we  have  spent  a  great  deal  of 
money  in  trying  to  find  him,  and  the  first  time  that  we  heard  of  him  after 
emerging  from  concealment  was  when  we  were  notified  that  he  came  east 
on  a  train  from  Chicago.  I  do  not  know  that  he  was  in  company  with 
him,  but  he  was  on  the  same  train  with  a  gentleman  employed  by  the 
defendants  in  this  case.  We  heard  that  he  Appeared  in  New  York ;  that 
he  went  to  Northern  New  Y^ork,  with  our  agents  in  sharp  pursuit,  and 
jumped  over  the  line  to  Kingston,  in  Canada.  There  he  was  at  the  last 
account  protesting  all  the  while  that  he  could  not  testify  to  anything 
that  would  do  us  any  good,  but  at  the  same  time  running  out  of  the 
country  to  prevent  being  put  upon  the  stand  to  see  whether  the  state- 
ments in  the  papers  on  file  made  by  such  reputable  persons  as  Thomas 
L.  James  and  others  of  what  he  had  told  to  them  were  true.  He  was 
seeking  to  escape  in  that  way.  I  believe,  gentlemen,  that  before  this 
trial  is  over  he  will  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  best  to  come  here 
and  tell  the  truth  and  subject  himself  to  any  discipline  that  the  court 
may  impose  upon  him  rather  than  to  subject  himself  to  what  must  be 
practic  illy  perpetual  exile.  The  order  of  this  court  goes  anywhere  in 
this  country,  and  when  found,  places  him  liable  to  an  immediate  ar- 
rest. I  believe  we  shall  have  him  here ;  but  I  am  bound  to  say  that  I 
base  my  belief  solely  upon  my  knowledge  of  human  nature  and  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case,  and  not  upon  any  authority  from  him.  If  he  is 
here  we  shall  place  him  before  you  upon  the  stand,  and  when  we  have 
done  so  we  shall  ask  you  to  remember  that  he  is  not  a  willing  witness; 
that  he  is  not  a  witness  who  has,  of  late  at  least,  assisted  the  Govern- 
ment in  any  manner,  but  that  he  is  a  witness  who  has  made  certain 
statements  which  he  said  he  could  swear  to  and  which  we  believe  were 
true.  That  is  the  only  evidence  that  I  have  referred  to  in  my  lengthy 
opening  statement  which  is  not,  as  we  believe,  entirely  at  our  control; 
and  I  deem  it  but  proper  Avhile  referring  to  it  to  call  your  attention  to 


119 

the  facts  which  may  result  so  that  if  we  fail  to  present  the  testimony, 
yon  will  understand  it  is  from  no  fault  of  ours. 

And,  now,  gentlemen,  let  me  briefly  recapitulate  what  I  think  we 
shall  be  able  to  show  to  you.  I  think  we  shall  be  able  to  show  you  that 
Mr.  Brady  resorted  to  expedition  as  the  regular  practice  of  the  depart- 
ment in  contradistinction  from  all  his  predecessors  who  resorted  to  it 
only  in  exceptional  cases,  and  in  contradistinction  from  his  successor  who 
has  never  resorted  to  it.  I  think  we  shall  be  able  to  show  you  that  he 
resorted  to  it  when  it  was  wholly  unnecessary,  that  he  paid  large  sums 
for  expedition  where  none  was  needed,  because  after  the  expedition 
the  mail  was  not  carried  in  any  less  time  than  it  was  before,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  it  was  previously  being  carried  in  less  time  than 
that  for  which  Mr.  Brady  paid  large  sums  under  the  pretense  of  ex 
peditiou  ;  that  he  paid  large  sums  for  expedition  and  for  increase  of 
service  where  there  was  no  mail  and  where  the  evidence  that  there 
was  no  mail  practically  except  the  bag,  was  in  Mr.  Brady's  own  pos- 
session and  shown  by  the  facts  to  have  met  Mr.  Brady's  own  eyes. 
We  shall  show  how  in  every  little  thing — the  addition  of  a  post- 
office  on  a  route,  the  taking  off  of  a  post-office  from  a  route — the  con- 
struction by  Brady  was  against  the  Government;  how,  when  service 
was  reduced,  in  a  large  number  of  cases  no  deduction  was  made, 
but  when  a  post-office  with  a  mile  or  two  of  distance  was  added  there 
was  always  an  increased  allowance  made.  We  shall  show  you  allow- 
ances for  supposititious  additions,  when  in  point  of  fact  those  additions 
were  entirely  false;  when  the  mail  went  over  the  same  road  all  the 
time,  and  yet  when  Mr.  Brady  claimed  that  there  was  an  additional 
distance  made  by  taking  in  some  post-office  or  other,  though  his  own 
record  showed  him  that  the  alleged  addition  was  not  made ;  we  shall 
show  you  that  Mr.  Brady  utterly  and  entirely  disregarded  the  produc- 
tiveness of  a  given  route  ;  that  there  never  was  anywhere  upon  any  of 
these  routes  any  evidence  that  he  took  into  consideration  productive- 
ness but  once,  and  that  was  when  he  took  it  into  consideration  in  the 
order  of  the  22nd  of  January,  1879,  and  cut  down  the  Mineral  Park 
and  Pioche  route,  reciting  that  there  was  no  mail  matter,  and  he  changed 
that  all  in  six  days  afterwards  by  putting  up  the  service  again.  We 
shall  show  you  cases,  like  that  of  Raton,  where  he  wrenched  a 
route  around  to  the  inconvenience  of  the  citizens  and  to  the  great 
loss  of  the  Government,  and  rendered  it  necessary  thereby  to  have  the 
route  expedited  so  that  the  mail  might  arrive  at  the  end  of  the  route 
in  the  day  time,  and  for  that  expedition  large  sums  were  taken  out  of 
the  Treasury,  when,  if  he  had  left  the  route  unchanged,  he  would  have 
needed  no  expedition,  the  mail  would  have  gone  over  the  route  in  the 
time  that  the  citizens  desired,  and  if  he  had  left  Raton  in  its  proper 
connection  it  would  have  derived  its  mail  matter  by  a  mail  route  in 
the  way  in  which  the  people  in  the  locality  desired  it.  We  shall  show, 
I  think,  that  when  he  had  occasion  on  such  a  route  as  that  from  Toquer- 
ville  to  Adairville  to  cut  off  ten  miles  from  the  end  of  the  route  because 
the  First  Assistant  Postmaster-General  had  notified  him  that  the  post- 
office  was  discontinued  and  there  was  no  place  to  take  the  mail,  that 
he  proceeded  first  to  make  an  order  for  expedition,  involving  some 
$12,000  a  year  to  the  Government,  and  then  he  proceeded  within  four 
days  afterwards,  by  an  order,  to  cut  off  these  ten  miles  and  give  a 
month's  extra  pay,  reckoning  it  on  the  increased  pay  instead  of  reckon- 
ing it  on  the  original  pay.  We  shall  show  you,  gentlemen,  that  he 
habitually,  I  may  say  wjthout  exception,  because  the  only  exceptions 
are  those  whei\j  we  sliow  you  the  circumstances  so  connected  with  the 


120 

Iraiul  that  they  cease  to  become  exceptions,  paid  up  to  the  limit  of  the 
law,  both  for  increase  of  service  and  increase  of  speed ;  that  the  evi- 
dence is  clear  and  must  be  clear,  in  his  own  knowledge  and  yours,  clear 
from  the  records  of  his  own  department,  clear  from  the  subcontracts 
on  file  there,  that  there  was  no  necessity  for  paying  up  to  the  limit, 
for  the  simple  reason  that  the  men  who  were  performing  the  service 
were  willing  to  perform  the  service  for  a  good  deal  less  than  they  re- 
ceived. We  shall  show  you  that  in  at  least  one  case,  in  direct  violation  of 
the  law,  he  antedated  an  order  and  paid  large  sums  from  the  Treasury 
for  service  alleged  to  have  been  rendered  before  the  order  was  made, 
though  the  statute  expressly  provides  that  he  shall  not  do  so. 
We  shall  show  you,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  that  he  made  his  expe- 
dition entirely  upon  the  oaths  of  the  men  who  were  to  be  benefited  by 
it — these  contractors  here  in  Washington,  none  of  whom,  at  the  time  of 
the  making  of  the  oath,  had  ever  seen  the  route,  and  none  of  whom  at 
that  time  knew,  of  his  own  knowledge,  how  many  men  and  horses  were 
then  being  employed,  and  none  of  whom,  other  than  Vaile,  was  by  ex- 
perience calculated  to  say  how  many  would  be  used  for  performing  an 
increased  rate  of  speed.  We  shall  show  you  that  he  acted  upon  the 
oaths  of  the  parties,  though  the  only  oaths  before  him  were  two  incon- 
sistent oaths  of  the  same  man,  sometimes  sworn  to  on  the  same  day, 
and  at  other  times  sworn  to  at  a  little  different  time,  when  one  or  the 
other  of  those  oaths  must  have  been  false,  and  the  mere  fact  of  the  ex- 
istence of  those  two  oaths  showed  him  that  the  man  was  not  worthy  of 
belief  for  a'moment.  We  shall  show  you  that  he  made  an  order  on  the 
Bismarck  and  Fort  Keogh  route,  which  he  plumed  himself  upon  as  be- 
ing less  than  pro  rata,  but  based  it  on  Miner's  absurd  oath  that  it  would 
take  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  animals  to  do 
the  service,  when,  in  point  of  fact,  there  had  been  an  affidavit  of  Miner, 
in  his  office,  showing  that  it  would  take  thirty  seven  men  and  some 
eighty  animals,  I  think  $  and  when  the  order  had  been  originally  pre- 
pared as  based  upon  that  affidavit  and  not  upon  the  larger  affidavit  of 
Miner;  but  if  he  had  made  the  order  allowing  the  amount  he  did  allow, 
instead  of  being  less  than  pro  rata  it  would  have  been  over  pro  rata. 
He  however  took  that  absurd  oath,  and  upon  it  based  an  order  to  have 
the  exceptional  pleasure  of  stating  in  his  order  that  it  was  less 
than  pro  rata.  We  shall  show  you  that  the  oaths  were  lies  upon  their 
face;  that  they  stated  that  there  were  then  in  use  a  certain  number  of 
men  and  horses ;  that  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case  the  statement 
was  false,  because  if  the  service  was  being  performed  it  required  more 
men  and  horses  to  perform  it.  We  shall  show  to  you  that  the  statemen  ts 
as  to  the  number  of  men  and  horses  that  would  be  required  to  perform 
the  service  were  absurdly  false,  because  they  led  to  such  results  as 
saying  that  a  horse  should  travel  only  two  miles  in  a  day  in  carrying 
the  mail,  and  yet  on  the  existing  schedule  the  horses  were  shown  to  be 
traveling  anywhere  from  fifteen  to  twenty-eight  miles  a  day.  You  will 
bear  in  mind,  gentlemen,  that  the  Government  was  to  be  defrauded, 
either  by  understating  the  existing  number  of  men  and  horses  which 
were  being  employed,  or  by  overstating  the  number  of  men  and  horses 
which  would  be  needed  on  the  increased  schedule ;  that  one  being  under- 
stated or  the  other  being  overstated  the  Government  would  be  defrauded ; 
and  if  both  occurred  in  the  same  case,  one  understating  and  the  other 
overstating,  the  Government  would  be  defrauded  in  very  large  amounts. 
We  shall  show  you  that  he  made  orders  on  such  affidavits  as  those  made, 
as  I  have  said,  by  affiants  who  never  were  on  the  route ;  made,  as  I 
have  said,  by  affiants  who  had  no  experience  in  the  service,  except 


121 

Yaile.  We  shall  show  you  that  in  direct  violation  of  the  regulations 
which  required  the  contractor  to  make  his  own  statement  of  the  number 
of  men  and  horses,  not  to  be  accepted  as  conclusive  at  all,  but  as  his  view 
of  the  case,  and  that  regulation  made  under  a  law  which  practically 
made  the  regulation  law,  Brady  utterly  disregarded  it  when  it  suited 
him  and  claimed  to  accept  the  affidavits  of  a  subcontractor,  that  sub- 
contractor being  a  man  who  was  not  in  point  of  fact  performing  the 
service  and  who  had  not  at  that  time  ever  been  upon  the  route.  We 
shall  show  you  more  than  that,  that  he  accepted  the  affidavits  of  men 
pretending  to  be  subcontractors  who  never  were  subcontractors,  and 
whom  the  record  showed  had  no  relation  to  the  route  whatever.  We 
shall  show  you,  gentlemen,  that  he  accepted  affidavits  which,  on  their 
face,  were  altered,  erased,  and  fraudulent ;  that  there  were  of  all  the 
affidavits  on  the  routes  which  he  accepted  but  two  which  were  not 
erased  on  their  face  and  obviously  unreliable,  to  say  the  least,  and  of 
those  one  was  made  by  Miner  and  the  other  was  the  oath  of  Yaile,  ac- 
cepted by  Brady  in  violacion  of  law.  We  shall  show  to  you,  gentle- 
men, that  he  made  orders  for  an  increase  of  allowance  which  were  il- 
legal, because  the  statute  expressly  provided  that  he  should  make  no 
allowance  for  increase  of  speed  unless  the  necessity  for  using 
more  men  and  horses  was  thereby  caused.  We  shall  show  you  by 
the  men  who  drove  the  horses  all  the  time  before  and  after  Mr. 
Brady's  order  that  no  increased  number  of  men  or  horses  was  required, 
but  identically  the  same  number  of  men  and  the  same  number  of  horses 
continued  jogging  over  the  route  from  one  week's  end  to  another.  We 
shall  show  to  you,  gentlemen,  the  petitions  which  pretend  to  be  the 
excuse  for  making  the  orders  in  some  cases,  and  that  the  petitions 
were  not  only  false  in  fact ;  that  they  were  not  only  gotten  up  by  these 
other  defendants  who  directed  that  their  interest  in  them  should  be 
concealed  and  that  the  mode  in  which  they  were  gotten  up  should  be 
concealed,  but  that  the  petitions  bore  on  their  face  evidences  of  alter- 
ation, evidences  of  change  such  as  ought  to  have  led  Mr.  Brady ? 
and  would  have  led  any  honest  Assistant  Postmaster-General,  or  any 
man  whoever  expected  that  there  would  be  any  examination  of  his 
acts,  who  did  not  suppose  that  these  things  would  go  along  without 
examination  and  without  investigation,  to  hesitate  greatly.  We  shall 
show  you,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  bristling  all  over  this  case  evidence 
of  prearrangement  with  Brady  and  of  understanding  between  Brady 
and  these  other  defendants  or  some  of  them.  We  shall  show  you  the 
statements  of  these  defendants  made  in  various  places  and  to  various 
persons  that  the  allowances  paid  by  the  Government  would  be  increased. 
We  shall  show  you  that  these  increases  did  actually  take  place  in  the 
manner  and  at  the  time  that  they  said  they  would  take  place.  We  shall, 
show  you  a  conversation  with  at  least  one  man  in  which  amounts  of 
future  increases  and  all  were  specified  and  where  the  result  proved 
that  tbe  amount  only  was  incorrect  in  being  somewhat  understated. 
We  shall  show  you  affidavits  made  six,  eight,  and  ten  months  in  advance 
of  any  applications  for  expedition,  which  affidavits  stated  the  precise 
number  of  hours  which  Mr.  Brady  subsequently  recited  to  be  the  hours 
tor  which  he  would  order  service,  and  as  to  which  he  wished  information 
as  to  how  many  men  and  horses  would  be  required  to  perform  it  in  that 
time;  and  those  hours  were  picked  out,  gentlemen,  entirely  apart  from 
any  designation  of  hours  in  the  petitions,  because  the  petitions  which 
pretended  to  be  the  excuse  for  the  orders  were  not  in  existence 
when  the  oaths  were  taken;  and  called  for  hoars  entirely  different.  We 
shall  show  yon  that  the  defendants  spent  over  $6,000  in  building  sta- 


122 

tious  on  a  single  route  where,  if  tlieir  contract  had  remained  unchanged, 
they  would,  during*  the  entire  four  years,  have  received  only  about 
$9,500 ;  and  yet  they  built  twice  as  many  stations  as  they  should 
want,  avowedly,  because  they  said  they  were  going  to  have  an  increase, 
and  when  they  got  the  increase  they  should  want  the  additional  stations, 
and  they  would  not  use  the  additional  stations  until  they  got  the  in- 
crease ;  and  they  did  get  the  increase,  and  then  they  used  them.  We 
shall  show  to  you  the  payment  by  them  of  large  sums,  or  considerable 
sums,  for  performing  the  service  in  excess  of  the  amount  which  they  re- 
ceived from  the  Government,  and  we  shall  show  you  in  every  one  of 
those  cases,  gentlemen,  that  the  loss  was  promptly,  and  after  a  very 
little  time  had  elapsed,  transformed  by  Brady's  orders  into  contracts 
which  gave  them  great  gains.  We  shall  show  to  you  that  by  their  form 
of  subcontract,  unknown  in  that  respect  until  these  men  went  into  the 
business  of  speculating  in  mail  contracts,  which  form  they  had  printed  at 
the  outset  of  their  career,  they  assumed  that  they  were  to  have  expedition 
upon  their  routes,  and  they  got  expedition  upon  their  routes,  and  they  used 
their  form  of  contract  under  which  the  men  who  performed  the  service 
were  to  get  somewhere  from  twenty-five  to  sixty-five  per  cent,  of  the  sum 
allowed  for  expedition  while  these  defendants  were  to  pocket  the  differ- 
ence of  seventy -five  to  thirty-five  per  cent.  In  Brady's  orders  he  was 
compelled  by  the  subcontract  law  to  state  the  fact  that  he  was  allow- 
ing thirty-five  to  seventy-five  per  cent,  more  for  carrying  the  mail  than 
was  necessary  to  be  allowed  for  carrying  it,  because  he  was  allowing 
from  thirty-five  to  seventy-five  per  cent,  to  the  parties  who,  his  own 
contract  showed,  were  not  driving  a  horse  or  carrying  any  mail.  He 
was  allowing  only  a  small  percentage  to  the  men  who  actually  were 
performing  the  service.  We  shall  show  to  you,  gentlemen,  as  evidence 
of  prearrangement,  the  way  in  which  the  bids  were  arranged  so  as 
to  be  upon  routes  where  the  trips  were  infrequent  and  the  speed 
was  low,  because  those  were  the  only  routes  which  afforded  an  op- 
portunity for  their  peculiar  proceedings,  which  alone  made  their 
business  profitable  in  view  of  the  low  sums  they  bid,  securing  from  Mr. 
Brady  increase  of  trips  and  increase  of  speed.  We  shall  show  you, 
gentlemen,  that  they  were  allowed  not  to  commence  the  service  when 
the  law  required  them  to  commence  it ;  that  they  were  not  declared 
failing  contractors,  as  Mr.  Brady's  duty  required  him  to  declare  them 
so,  until  they  could  have  time  to  get  up  petitions  and  get  ready  the  ma- 
chinery which  was  to  be,  in  some  sense,  a  justification,  an  excuse  and 
apology  for  Mr.  Brady's  orders  for  expedition,  and  that  in  some  cases 
the  commencement  of  the  service  and  the  orders  for  increase  of  trips 
and  expedition  coincide  so  nearly  that  it  is  impossible  to  tell  which  was 
first.  We  shall  show  you,  gentlemen,  orders  for  expedition  and  increase 
made  by  Mr.  Brady  in  spite  of  the  remonstrance  of  the  people  along  the 
line  of  the  route  and  in  spite  of  the  remonstrance  of  his  own  officers. 
We  shall  show  you  orders  for  expedition  and  increase  of  service  perse- 
vered in  by  Mr.  Brady  in  spite  of  these  remonstrances.  We  shall  show 
you  that  when  it  suited  his  convenience  he  found  it  very  desirable  to 
appeal  to  United  States  Senators  and  Members  of  Congress  as  backing 
him  up  and  giving  authority  for  doing  what  he  did.  I  am  not  aware 
that  there  is  anything  in  the  law  or  the  Constitution  that  says  that  a 
Member  of  Congress  or  a  Senator  who  is  sent  here  to  legislate  in  yon- 
der building  has  any  right  to  possess  more  influence  with  reference  to 
mail  service  than  you  or  I  or  anybody  else.  He  has  the  right  of  the 
citizen  living  in  the  locality  and  no  more.  We  shall  show  to  you  that 
while  there  was  claimed  to  be  given  to  those  men  undue  weight  when 


123 

they  requested  increase  of  service  and  increase  of  speed,  because  they 
took  from  the  Treasury  increased  amounts  of  money,  thnt  when  those 
persons  became  satisfied  that  injustice  had  been  done  and  there  ought 
to  be  a  revocation  of  the  order,  then  they  could  not  procure  its  revoca- 
tion ;  that  Senators  and  Members  were  told  it  could  not  be  done,  and 
that  absurd  excuses  were  given,  such  as  the  excuse  on  the  Vermillion 
and  Sioux  Falls  route,  that  it  would  be  unjust  to  the  other  bidders.  We 
-shall  show  you  double  service  paid  for  on  the  same  route.  We  shall 
show  you  expedition  ordered  and  paid  for  when  expedition  was  not  made 
and  when  there  was  no  change  of  time.  We  shall  show  you  trips  or- 
dered to  be  made  in  a  time  which  all  the  postmasters  on  the  route  de- 
clared to  be  impossible,  which  turned  out  to  be  impossible,  and  which 
necessarily  led  to  fines  and  penalties  under  the  law,  which  fines  and 
penalties  fell  upon  the  subcontractors  and  not  upon-the  favored  friends 
of  Mr.  Brady,  these  defendants.  We  shall  show  to  you  that  those  fines 
and  penalties  were  remitted  in  some  cases,  and  so  remitted  that  the 
contractors  put  them  into  their  pockets  and  kept  the  money  which  had 
been  originally  taken  from  the  subcontractors.  We  shall  ask  you,  in 
that  connection,  to  remember  the  statement  of  Mr.  Rerdell  to  Mr. 
James  and  Mr.  MacVeagh,  and  the  statement  of  Mr.  Brady  himself  to 
Mr.  Walsh,  that  he  was  paid  50  per  cent,  of  all  the  remissions  that  he 
ordered.  We  shall  show  to  you,  gentlemen,  cases  where,  as  upon  the 
Mineral  Park  and  Pioche  route,  Mr.  Brady  sawed  the  service  up  and  sawed 
it  down,  so  far  as  the  allowances  were  concerned,  at  his  own  sweet  will, 
upon  excuses  which  the  papers  before  him,  to  which  he  referred,  showed 
to  be  untrue,  upon  excuses  which  jnust  have  been  untrue,  and  under 
circumstances  which  showed  beyontt-all  question  that  he  was  acting  in 
utter  disregard  of  the  interests  of  the  Government.  We  shall  show  you 
the  buying  of  the  silence  of  postmasters  and  contractors  who  complained 
and  recommended  a  discontinuance  of  the  service,  where  these  con- 
tractors were,  beyond  all  dispute,  making  very  large  sums,  because  the 
record  shows  that  they  were  getting  a  very  large  amount  more  than 
they  paid  to  the  subcontractors  for  performing  the  service.  We  shall 
show  to  you,  gentlemen,  all  these  things  and  more.  We  shall  show 
them  to  you  by  absolutely. unimpeachable  testimony,  testimony  which 
will  not  be  impeached,  testimony  which  cannot  be  impeached,  testimony 
which  there  will  be  no  attempt  to  impeach.  We  shall  show  all  these  things 
and  more  to  you,  and  when  we  have  done  that,  we  shall  leave  the  case 
in  your  hands,  gentlemen,  confident  that  you  will  vindicate  the  cause 
of  honesty  and  the  cause  of  the  honest  administration  of  justice  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  by  rendering  a  prompt  verdict  of  guilty  against 
these  defendants. 


NIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

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demand  may  be  renewed  if  application  is  made  before 
expiration  o'f  loan  period. 


28  1928 


APR  17  1939 


AH*  18  1939 


50m-7,'16 


YC  25109 


